


Dancing Lions, Painted Wings

by genericfanatic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Anastasia AU, M/M, half galran half altean keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-20 04:39:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 35,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8236387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genericfanatic/pseuds/genericfanatic
Summary: Years after peace has been made between the Galran and Altean kingdoms, The witch Haggar comes for vengeance. The young symbol of peace, the half-galran, half-altean Prince Kalor is lost. His aunt, Princess Allura, and his bodyguard, Shiro, are heartbroken.10 years later, an orphan named Keith sets out on his own, trying to find the key to his past. All he has to help him is a small figurine with a cryptic message, a friendly engineer, a technician and her friendly robot, and a cocky con man with a mysterious, yet familiar past.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Dancing Lions, Painted Wings](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8765860) by [traductoradexideas (grxndqueen)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grxndqueen/pseuds/traductoradexideas)



“Prince Kalor?” Shiro called into the room, crawling on the floor and searching under the tables. “Come on, your highness. The party is in less than an hour, and your grandfather will have my head if you’re not there.”

He stared down a large lump of blankets. Suspicious, he grabbed ahold of the edge and pulled. Just more pillows. Shiro sighed.

“Lieutenant Shirogane?” Shiro jerked to attention and turned to the door. There, framed perfectly was a beautiful woman with long white hair in a gorgeous ballgown, and pink marks just below her eyes.

“Princess Allura!” Shiro bowed low, “How, um, how may I help you?” He was still bowed, which made speaking difficult, but he wasn’t entirely sure if he was allowed to stand. 

“I was just looking for my nephew. Is Kalor here?” 

Shiro bit his lip. He was pretty sure losing a prince was a fire-able offence. “Um, well…he’s…he’s playing.”

Shiro was still bowed so he could only hear her move closer, but he was 40% sure her footsteps sounded like she didn’t believe him. “Playing?”

“Yes,” Shiro said, devoted to his lie, “Just playing a fun…fun game.” Oh, that little prince better be having the time of his LIFE right now.

Shiro saw the hem of her dress enter his vision. Hesitantly, he straightened out his back to look her in the eyes. She had one eyebrow raised, but was still smirking, just slightly. “Ah, that’s too bad. And here I was going to give him a present.”

There was a gasp that seemed to come from the wall. Shiro and Allura jerked their heads to the sound. Allura smiled at Shiro and then daintily stepped, as quietly as she could, towards the wall. She summoned Shiro to follow her as she examined the wall and looked for a seam. Shiro followed, also keeping his feet quiet. She motioned for him to speak. “Oh, uh, a present? No, no princess. I’m afraid Prince Kalor doesn’t like presents.”

“Really?” Allura said, lightly tracing the wooden panels with her fingertips, “Oh, that IS a real shame. I suppose I’ll just have to throw this away, then.”

“No!” One of the panels burst open to reveal a small passageway, with a young black-haired boy sitting inside. “You can’t go throwing away other people’s things! That’s wrong!”

In sync, Allura and Shiro crossed their arms, looking down at the boy. Shiro was prepared to lecture him about hiding in servant’s passageways, but Allura, in her giant ballgown, kneeled down to his level, smiling kindly. “Now, that doesn’t look like my nephew I know and love.” Kalor shrunk away from her, refusing to meet her gaze, “Come on, where’s my favorite Galran.”

“Half-galran,” He corrected her. Sighing, the boy closed his eyes, and his skin started changing colors before them. Finally, he opened yellow orbs on them both, and absentmindedly touched his purple face with red markings beneath his eyes. 

“There you are,” Allura said, holding out her hand to pull him out of the passage. “What are you doing, shapeshifting and hiding around like that?”

Kalor shrugged, “The other kids were making fun of me.”

Allura cocked her head to the side, “What other kids?”

Kalor looked conspiratorial as he loud whispered “The HUMANS. I look…I look different from them.”

Shiro’s heart went out to the kid. And here he thought Kalor was just trying to make his life difficult. Well, he still might be doing that… Allura sighed and took Kalor’s hand. “I look different from the humans too.”

“But you’re a princess!” Kalor said, his voice bordering on whining. 

“And you’re a prince.”

“IT’S DIFFERENT!” He shouted. 

“Kalor,” Shiro said, shaking his head in disapproval. Allura waved him off, indicating she was all right.

“Being Galran is NOTHING to be ashamed of, Kalor. My brother…your parents died to—“

“To bring peace between the Altean’s and the Galra, I know…” Kalor said, dismally.

“What I was GOING to say was they died to save you.” Allura smiled at him. “And yes, you are the symbol of the Galran and Altean alliance, but more than that, you’re my family, and you’re important to me. You don’t need to hide it. Besides, we won’t be here on Earth for that much longer, I promise.”

Kalor nodded. He blinked up at Shiro. “Is he going to come with us to Altea?” 

Allura looked up at Shiro as well, before turning back to her nephew. “Do you like the Lieutenant?”

Kalor gave Shiro a once over. “Shiro’s alright. He’s fun to mess with.” Shiro grumbled. He knew it.

Allura chuckled, “Well…Shiro will be going with you. But I’m afraid I’m not going to be coming with the both of you.”

Kalor blinked at her. “What? But…but where are you going?”

“We need some more Balmera crystals, so I’ll be heading to the Balmera to conduct the ceremony. As SOON as that’s over, I’ll come join you and Father on Altea, alright?”

Kalor did not seem pleased with this development. Shiro knew the two of them were close. “Okay,” he grumbled, looking at his feet. 

Allura forced him to look at her. “I was serious about getting you a present.” She took out a small box from the inner folds of her dress. “It’s to remind you of me while I’m gone.”

Kalor’s distress was instantly forgotten as he took the box into his hands. Shiro couldn’t help smiling at his eagerness to rip open the package. Inside the box lay five small lion figurines, each a different color, blue, red, black, green, and yellow. Kalor frowned at them. “Are they toys?”

“In a way,” Allura said. She grabbed the largest, the black one, and began twisting its arms. She added on the green one, then the red, blue, and yellow. With a flick, the black lions jaws hung open, showing the face of—

“Voltron!” Kalor cheered, and took the toy. He instantly fiddled with the arms and legs, turning it around to examine every detail. Allura smiled at him. Kalor jumped up and came over to Shiro, “Shiro, Shiro look at it! It’s an exact duplicate!” 

Shiro, forgetting his annoyance with the child he was to care for, took the toy Kalor was pushing into his hands and looked at it. Turning it over he saw written in golden letters “Champion of the Balmera,” Across the arms and back. He smiled and handed it back to Kalor. “Very impressive.” Kalor smiled at his approval. “Now, the princess is already set for the going-away party, while you’re still in street clothes. Does that seem right to you?”

Kalor shrugged. “I guess….I’ll go get changed?”

“You guessed right,” Shiro said, “now go on. You can play with the toy later.” Kalor, placated with his toy, ran back to his room, leaving Shiro to sigh.

Allura chuckled. “He likes you.”

Shiro shrugged, “He likes torturing me.”

“Well…yes.” Allura said, “But he really is a good kid.”

Shiro nodded, “I know. And believe me, I’ll protect him above my own life.”

“I’m not concerned with your loyalty to the job, Lieutenant,” She said with a smile.

Shiro swallowed. “Shiro…Most people just call me Shiro, your highness.”

Allura nodded, “Shiro, then. And you can call me Allura.”

Shiro blinked. “Are you sure that’s not…you know…improper?”

Allura gave a light laugh, and Shiro smiled to himself at the sound. Get your head out of the clouds, Shiro, he thought to himself, She’s a princess, you’re a bodyguard. “But I’m a princess, Shiro,” She said, “Everything I say is proper.” She winked at him, and he bit his lips to keep from smiling like some giddy schoolboy with a crush. It must have looked like he was laughing at her, though, as she raised an eyebrow at him. “What, you doubt me?”

He shook his head rapidly, “Not at all, your…Allura.”

She smirked, satisfied. “See you at the party, then.”

She left, leaving Shiro to smile as giddily as he pleased with no one to laugh at him.

 

At the party, Shiro couldn’t help but watch Princess Allura glide across the dance floor. Her beauty was famed, but it was her kindness that made his heart swell. She laughed as she flitted from one high-class human to another, dancing her way through the evening with ease. Shiro saw her look his way a couple of times, and wondered if she wanted him to go dance with her as much as he wanted to.

Still, he had a job to do. He tore his eyes from the princess to the prince…or at least to where the prince had been when Shiro had last seen him. Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose. This boy would be the death of him, he thought, before searching the numerous guests to see where his charge went.

He bit his lip, trying to think of where he’d go if he was an 8 year old boy at a fancy party. Realization sinking in, he made his way to the food table.

There were indeed a couple kids there. Thankfully, the purple one was simple to pick out, surrounded by two others. “My Dad fought in the war,” He heard one of the kids say as he got closer, “He says the Galra are dog-people.”

“I’m not a dog!” Kalor protested, his ears flat against his head. Shiro picked up his pace.  
“Look at his ears!” Another kid said, “He’s more like a cat!”

“Well, which is it?” The first kid said, “Dog or cat?” 

The second kid started barking at Kalor, while the first meowed. Kalor’s hands were balled into fists. Shiro half ran forward, desperate to get there before any punches were thrown. 

In the end, he didn’t have to. Shiro blinked, and suddenly both boys were covered in purple liquid. Shiro paused, taking in the scene to try and figure out what happened, as the boys whined, nearly in tears at the state of their fancy clothes. It took a moment for Shiro to see the serving boy behind them, holding a large tray and picking up the empty punch bowl, and not looking too sorry. 

“Stupid serving boy!” The taller of the two pushed at the servant, and he fell to the ground, “How dare you! My mother will have you skinned alive for that!” He stepped forward, preparing to kick the servant in the stomach, when finally, Shiro reached them and grabbed the boy’s shoulders. 

“You will do nothing of the sort,” Shiro said in his most menacing voice. It appeared to work, as the boy shrunk in fear. Convinced that he wouldn’t attack again, Shiro let him go, “Now both of you, run along to your parents. I’m sure you’ll need a change of clothes.”

The two boys ran away, and Shiro turned to see Kalor helping the boy stand up. He was shorter than Kalor by a couple of inches, with shaggy brown hair and brown skin. Shiro tapped his foot impatiently, which got Kalor’s attention. “What have I told you about wandering off without telling me?”

Kalor shrugged, “I was just getting something to eat. I was handling it.”

“You were about to start an intergalactic incident is what you were going to do. You’re lucky this boy came along. What’s your name?” Shiro asked.

The boy clutched his arm, clearly thinking he was going to get into trouble. “Lance,” He said. 

Shiro tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Thank you, Lance,” He held out a hand, and Lance reluctantly shook it. Finally, Lance smiled back at him. Releasing his grip, Shiro turned to Kalor. “Kalor, what do we say?”

Kalor crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Lance, even though I had the situation handled and I didn’t need you.” Shiro cleared his throat, warningly. Kalor sighed. “Thank you.”

Lance shrugged, “You’re welcome. They were being jerks.”

Kalor snorted at that. “Do you wanna play with my toy?” He held up Voltron. Shiro smiled. He was pretty sure he had told Keith to leave that in his room, but oh well. 

Lance bit his lip, “I’m…supposed to be working.” Lance said, looking back to the kitchens. 

Kalor’s ears drooped, and Shiro’s heart broke. “I’ll go talk to your boss.” Shiro said, “You two go play.” 

Lance and Kalor’s faces lit up, and they ran to a corner so that Kalor could show off his cool robot. Shiro smirked and went to go have an unpleasant talk with the chef.

Shiro had started to fade a little as the party continued. Allura was still beautiful, dancing. King Alfor was laughing with guests about some matter or other. Kalor and Lance were playing with Voltron. All he had to do was stay awake and as alert as he could until Kalor had to be taken to bed.

Still, he was on the job, and therefore was one of the first people to notice the surprise guest that walked through the giant double doors. His face fell at the sight of the figure, robed in black, and as purple as Kalor. 

The crowd quieted, and then went as silent as the figure herself, instantly and widely recognized as Zarkon’s advisor and witch Haggar. 

King Alfor himself stepped forward, his own bodyguards at his side, “You are not welcome here,” he said, “The war is over, Zarkon is dead. Leave now, and I will consider you only banished. Stay,” Alfor drew a handle which quickly grew into a full sword, “And it will be to die.”

Haggar’s face broke into a smile that was chilling. It did, however, break Shiro out of his trance. Quickly, he made his way over to stand by Kalor, grabbing his arm, and dragging him towards the back doors. The young prince held the toy by the arm as he jogged to keep up with Shiro. He needed to get the prince to his room NOW. Shiro noticed Lance following them, but didn’t protest. 

“I’m not the one who will be dying today, Altean.” Haggar said in her shuddering raspy voice. Shiro looked over just in time to see Haggar lifting her hand, and Alfor lifted up into the air, clutching at his throat. The guards rushed at the Galran’s, but they met only a purple shield impeding them. 

“Father!” Shiro heard Allura’s melodious voice cry out as she reached to him, desperately trying to pull him back down with her own two hands. The crowd screamed and ran in all directions, trying to get away from the fight.

Shiro came up to the back door, but saw it blocked off by two Galran sentry robots. Shiro stood between them and Kalor, backing up. Kalor hardly noticed the change in direction, all of his attention focused on his grandfather. “And now,” Haggar said over the throng, “The Altean monarchy dies.” 

Shiro had just enough sense to cover Kalor’s eyes as Alfor fell to the ground with a squelch. He saw Allura fall with him, eyes red and crying to the heavens in sorrow and anger.

Haggar laughed. Around the edges of the room people were being herded back inside by other sentries. The guards quickly engaged them in combat, and blood was spilt. “And now,” Haggar said, “For the daughter,” She pointed a long pointed finger at Allura. Shiro’s eyes went wide, but luckily, her own bodyguard, some poor soul who Shiro had never learned the name of, dived in the way. His scream echoed around the chamber as he choked and writhed in unimaginable pain, but Allura took the hint and fled her father’s body, as far from Zarkon’s sword as he could manage. 

Shiro grabbed Kalor’s arm and ran to intercept her, Lance still trailing them. “Follow me,” He said, and ran for the kitchens. 

More sentries guarded the kitchen doors, but they were already fighting some guards and particularly angry, if misguided, guests. Already people were starting to die. Shiro drew his sword, keeping Kalor, Lance and Allura behind him. He didn’t need to fight them all, he just needed to make an opening. 

Two sentry’s went down, and he ushered the royal family and the kitchen boy through. He quickly barricaded the door behind him. The other guests were not as guaranteed to die as Kalor and Allura were. The kitchen staff were lying in their own blood, and Allura muffled her own scream with her hands. He lead them to the doors, creaking them open. As soon as he peaked out, he jammed them shut, then pushed a table in front to block it off. “There’s a whole army of Galra soldiers out there.”

“How?” Allura asked through her tears, “How is this happening?”

A bang came from the door to the ballroom. Someone was trying to bash their way in, and it would not hold against Haggar’s magic.

Shiro turned desperately back and forth, trying to find a way to freedom. It was only then he noticed his face was bleeding, probably from the fight with the sentries he just had. “Over here!” He swiveled and saw Lance holding open a panel in the wall, “Secret passage, come on!” 

Another bang came at the door, quickly followed by a bang at the other door. He pushed for Allura to go first, and she crouched down, running as much as her gown would allow. Then, Shiro pushed Kalor forward, “Wait!” Kalor said, as the doors banged again, “Voltron’s arm got separated, I need to find him!” 

Shiro looked in the boy’s hands to see the red arm of Voltron clutched in his fist, the body presumably fallen somewhere. “No time!” Shiro demanded, and pushed the boy into the wall. Reluctantly, Kalor ran to follow his aunt. 

Shiro indicated for Lance to go next, but the kitchen boy shook his head, “I’ll block the passage off after you go through, so they won’t find you.”

Though his morals demanded he try and save the boy too, his duty was to the royal family. “As soon as it’s blocked, hide. Don’t try and fight them, just surrender and they won’t hurt you.”

Lance nodded and Shiro ran after his protectees. The passage took them out of the palace by the sewers. Once they could stand again, Shiro scooped Kalor up into his arms and began running, Allura at his side. They heard the sounds of battle, but made their way to a crowd of people. “Both of you, shapeshift to look like humans.”

Allura swallowed, her ears shrinking and pink marks leaving her face, “But our clothes—“

“We’ll worry about that later, for the moment the less noticeable you are the better.” In his arms, Kalor dropped the purple, resuming the demeanor of black-haired human boy he had earlier that day. “We’re heading to the shipyard,” Shiro said, “We have to get you both off-planet.”

Unfortunately for them, the captains at the shipyard had much the same idea, only for themselves. Not wanting to stick around for the siege, most of them were taking off. Allura, Shiro, and Kalor covered their faces, trying to get the dust and smells of jet fuel away from them.

Finally, they spotted one ship with doors rapidly closing, but hadn’t taken off yet. “WAIT!” Allura shouted at it, “Please! You have to wait!” 

The doors stayed open, but the Captain did not cease his takeoff sequence. Shiro pushed Allura on board, then tried to climb up himself, still holding Kalor. Shiro couldn’t handle the feat, though, and Kalor slipped. Quickly, Shiro caught him, holding him dangling from his arm as the ship steadily rose from the ground.

“Wait!” Allura said, “Hold the ship, we have to get him on board.”

“I can’t stop!” The Captain cried back, “Look!” Shiro turned to see Galran sentries starting to flood the shipyard, firing at retreating ships.

“Hold on, Kalor!” Shiro said, trying to pull him up, “Hold on, I’ve got you!”

And he did. Until a sentry shot came out of nowhere. Shiro cried out in pain as it burned through his elbow. Another shot, and he could only watch in horror as Kalor fell down into the cloud of dust, though he would hear the boy’s screams in his head for the rest of his life.


	2. Journey to the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 10 years later....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little shorter than the prologue, no idea how consistency is going to work with these chapters.   
> Also, for this fic Pidge is genderfluid and so I'm using mixed bag pronouns.

“Hey Lance!” Pidge hopped through the crowds looking for their friend. “Lance?”

Pidge gave a little shriek as someone grabbed the back of their coat and pulled them through the crowd. Once they made it through, the stranger released them, and Pidge turned around with a scowl. “Gah! I told you not to manhandle me, Lance!” 

The offending man chuckled. “Aww, but you’re so small and cute!” Pidge’s scowl grew. “Come on, Hunk’s waiting for us.” 

They walked in step, though Pidge had to speed up to keep pace with Lance. Lance smirked, but did not slow for them. As they turned the corner, they came to a dead halt, all trace of smiles gone.

“Identification please,” The little triangular robot said. 

Lance darted his gaze from side to side. They were in luck, no one was around. “Identification, right.” Lance said, “Here, let me grab it.” He reached into his pocket feeling the handle of his blaster, preparing their exit route in his mind. The blast would surely make a noise to attract any Galran security in the area, so he’d have to grab Pidge and run for the alleyway, hoping that one of the doors was open and they could sneak in. 

“Wait,” Pidge interrupted, holding his arm before he could draw the gun, “I wanna try something.” He took a paper out of her pocket and showed it to the robot. The robot scanned the writing on it, twitched, and then fell to the ground, empty and lifeless. 

“What the heck did you DO?” Lance asked, watching as Pidge gathered up the robot into their arms. 

“Hand wrote a virus so that if a computer scans it, it automatically downloads it.” Pidge tossed the robot into the air and caught it like a baseball. “I’m gonna have FUN reprogramming you.”

Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed hold of Pidge’s coat, pulling her along. “Come on. The Galra will sense if one of their drones goes down, it’s only a matter of time before they send someone to investigate, and I don’t want to be around when that happens.” Lance took them in a rather roundabout route, never going in a straight line for long. “Freaking Galra. They’ve lost most of the universe already, why can’t they just let go of this measly planet?”

“Because Galra are SO GOOD at giving things up,” Pidge said in his most sarcastic voice. Lance stuck his tongue out at him. “Where are we going, anyway?” 

“Up to the old palace,” Lance said.

“The Palace? Seriously? You sure that’s the best place we should be going?” 

Lance shrugged, “Hunk said he cleared us a spot from the squatters. Besides, it’s the one place the Galra avoid. There’s not much better than that.”

“WE’RE squatters, Lance.” Pidge reminded him.

“Not for long!” Lance smirked at him, “I’ve got the word out through underground connections, it should spread fairly safely. By tomorrow we’ll be auditioning for our very own Prince Kalor.”

They reached the palace, squeezing their way through boarded up windows. All the hallways looked the same, but Lance navigated through them with ease

Finally, they made there way to the grand ballroom, where their friend Hunk stood up to greet them. “What d’you think?” He said, his voice echoing in the empty hall.

Pidge and Lance looked around at the area, dust and debris pushed to the side, and a stage made out of what was once meant for the King’s throne. “Lookin’ good, Hunk.” Lance said, smirking.

“And look!” Hunk said, “I found this!” Hunk dragged out a giant portrait, putting it on the stage. Pidge and Lance blinked at the giant portrait of the royal family. Lance looked up into the face of King Alfor, biting his lip and shaking the memories out of his head. 

“I STILL don’t understand,” Pidge said, “Why one of us can’t impersonate the Prince.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Well, first of all, YOU can’t. You’re too young. And Hunk and I look nothing like him. Look,” Lance pointed to the picture of the young prince, “It’s completely wrong.”

Pidge grabbed one of the metal folding chairs, pulling it open with a screech, “I gotta break it to you, Lance. We’re not going to find ANYONE who looks like a half-galra half-altean. That’s the whole point.”

Lance sighed, “I thought that was your whole purpose here, to make sure he’ll look like an alien.”

Pidge took the tiny Galran robot and a screwdriver out, starting to mess with it. “Are you doubting my hacking ability?”

The portrait started tipping forward and Hunk desperately grabbed it, the painted princess’ face leaning on his own. He pushed it up. “How do you hack DNA anyway?”

“I don’t,” Pidge said, removing a plate from the robot and messing with the internal wires. “But I can inject whoever we want with this nifty little nanite formula I cooked up. As long as it’s in their bloodstream, if they get scanned, they’ll look like an Altean-Galra hybrid with Quirrik syndrome.”

“What’s Quirrik syndrome?” Lance asked.

“It’s an Altean disease.” Pidge said, “I’ve read about it and I think I’ve got it set. It’s not fatal, but it negates Altean’s shapeshifting abilities. We can just say our Kalor has it, and that’s why he looks human.” Pidge smirked up at Lance, “If you WANT, almighty Prince, we can inject YOU with it so you can be Kalor.”

Lance shook his head again. “I’ve got a different part to play in all this.” His hand went to his bag, feeling the object inside.

“Lance is right,” Hunk said, making sure the portrait wouldn’t fall over when he let go, “Shapeshifting for Alteans doesn’t change someone THAT much. Just different species, not completely different features. They have to be close enough that it seems familiar to his aunt. Speaking of which, did you hear the rumors?”

Lance collapsed into his own chair, putting his feet up on the table. “There are always rumors.”

“My rumors are more solid.” Hunk said. Pidge and Lance exchanged an exasperated look. “I heard from Nyma that Rolo said that Rax said that Shay said that the Princess is getting married!”

Pidge raised an eyebrow, “Who the heck can the princess even marry? Altea was destroyed 10 years ago, there’s only a handful left.”

“Nyma said it was a human,” Hunk said, joining them at the little table, “Some bodyguard or something.”

Pidge looked up, “You don’t think…I mean, did they say…”

Hunk sighed, “Pidge, even my connections have limits. If I had heard anything I would have said it, I swear.”

Pidge sighed, dropping her eyes to the ground. Lance and Hunk looked at one another, Hunk giving a little shrug. “Cheer up, Pidge,” Lance said, “Who knows? Maybe you’ll have a Princess for an In-Law.”

Pidge smirked at him, knowing he was trying to cheer them up. “That’ll make it harder to con her out of her money.” Lance smirked back. 

“Well,” Lance said, “For you. Hunk and I’ll be halfway across the galaxy. But first, we need a Kalor.”

“You know,” Hunk said, “Even if we fake the bloodtests and get someone who vaguely looks like him, it doesn’t mean the Princess will believe us.”

Lance smirked at him, “Now don’t you worry about that, Hunk.” He put his bag on the table and patted it, “I’ve got everything we need, right here.”

 

“But I’m willing to work!” Keith said, “I’m…I’m good with mechanic stuff, or I could clean…I’ll work in the kitchens, I’ll do ANYTHING!

“Don’t need more crew,” The captain said, observing his crew loading cargo on board. 

Keith wasn’t deterred, “I’ll…I’ll sleep in the cargo hold, I won’t get in the way or anything! Please, I HAVE to get to Balmera”

“You eat?” The Captain asked, barely paying attention.

“What?” Keith asked. “Uh…yeah?”

“Well, we won’t have the food to spare. It’s a long journey, space travel is hard, and we can’t feed you. Now, we take off tomorrow. You come back with a passengers ticket, then you can get on my ship. No ticket, no travel.”

“But I don’t have any money!” Keith whined.

“Not my problem.” He passed his first mate his tablet. “Now, get out of here, kid.” He left inside his ship.

“I’m not a kid!” Keith called after him, but he didn’t even flinch, “I’M LEGALLY 18! I think…” The door to the ship closed, and he grimaced, kicking a nearby crate, “Worst birthday ever.”

Or at least, he assumed it was his birthday. This was the day 10 years ago he had been found, ragged and lost in the city, with no memory. The orphanage worker, Mr. Iverson, said his family clearly had been killed in the siege of Earth, and he had been injured. Keith was ready to accept that, except for one little detail.

Keith took the little red lion figurine out of his pocket and stared at it, looking for advice. When he had been found, his clothes were filthy and tattered beyond repair, but this little toy had been clutched in his hand. Since then he was never without it. He had lost everything from his old life, even his memories, but he had this stupid little toy. There was writing on it, though anyone who hadn’t been staring at it for the past ten years (aka other than Keith) couldn’t read it anymore. When he was younger, though, it clearly had the word “Balmera” on it.

He sighed and fiddled with the legs. They twisted into the body, and looked like it should attach to something, but he didn’t know what. Every time he twisted it, though, he felt like he was close to remembering something. Like he had done this a long time ago…with someone…But couldn’t remember who or what.

‘You should have gone to the mechanics shop,’ a voice in his head that sounded a great deal like Mr. Iverson said, ‘I work so hard to get you decent work, you ungrateful little snot, and this is how you repay me?’ 

He tried to ignore the voice, but it was hard not dealing with the facts. He had run off the second he aged out of the orphanage, spent all his money on a hoverbike to get to the city, all in search of a past he knew nothing about. And now where was he? The hoverbike had been stolen the second he turned his back on it. The ship Captains wouldn’t look twice at him. He was far too far away to get to that old mechanics shop now, and he didn’t even have anything to eat or a place to sleep. 

“Psst” He heard. He looked around. There were plenty of people in the shipyard going back and forth, but none were looking at him. “PSST. PSSST. PSSSSSSSSSSST.” 

Finally, he saw a couple behind some carts, a purple man with white hair and metal legs, and a yellow woman wide orb eyes. The man was waving him over. Looking back and forth, and ignoring his common sense, he made his way over. “Hey,” the man whispered, “You’re looking for a way to get to the Balmera?” 

Keith looked back and forth, trying to figure out if anyone was listening in. When he determined they weren’t, he nodded. 

The woman gave him a bright smile, “You should go to the palace. Talk to Mr. McClain. He’ll be able to help you.”

Keith blinked at them. On the one hand, he was pretty sure the adults at the orphanage told him taking seedy advice from strangers was a bad idea. Well, not that specifically, but something along those lines. On the other hand, he didn’t have any money or any other options…and he had come this far…”Thank you,” Keith said, smiling. They nodded their welcome, “Who are you?”

The man shook his head, “Don’t need to worry about that. Just some people looking to help.” He winked at Keith.

Keith raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Which way to the palace?” 

Keith walked out of the shipyard. As he walked outside, he saw like a figment, a man and a woman, holding a child, and rushing into the yard, tattered and bloody. Keith blinked, and the image was gone. He shook his head. That was ridiculous. 

He followed the couple’s directions and looked up at the palace. He took a deep breath and stepped inside.


	3. Once upon a December

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reunion back to where it all began

“Uuuuuuugh,” Lance said, as the last candidate walked out, “Why is this so HAAAARD?”

Pidge rolled his eyes, as she’d long given up on actually paying attention and just concentrated on modifications. “Maybe if someone wasn’t so PICKY,” they muttered under his breath. 

Lance turned to her. “Its not my fault. He has to look just right.” 

“I thought Marvin fit the bill pretty well,” Hunk said, just as tired as the others. 

“Marvin was WAY too tall.” Lance said, “And his face was all wrong.” He leaned back in his seat, letting out a yawn.

Hunk got out of his chair and stretched, “Maybe we should just turn in for the night. I’m sure more people will show up tomorrow.” 

Lance groans again, “Fine. Sleeping it is.” 

“In the meantime,” Pidge said, closing the last panel, “Meet Rover.” The tiny triangular robot floated up out of her hand. 

Lance and Hunk instinctively flinched away, “You sure that thing’s not reporting us to the Galra right now?” Lance asked.

“There you go again,” Pidge said, “doubting my abilities. Come here, Rover,” Pidge tickled its side, and it leaned into their hand. 

Hunk shook his head, tearing his vision away from the sight, “That is so weird.” He stretched his neck, “Alright, I’m gonna sleep in the kitchens. At least there’s a table, so I won’t be on the floor.” 

Pidge got up to follow him, “Sounds good. Lance, you coming?”

Lance turned so his friends didn’t see him flinch, “Nah, I’ll just find a cozy spot out here.”

“Are you sure?” Pidge asked, before Hunk nudged him in the side, shaking his head. 

“Let it go, Pidge.” Hunk pulled Pidge along with him to the kitchens. 

 

Keith wished he had brought a flashlight. The torches seemed to have been dowsed years ago, and the only light came from cracks in the roof and rafters. Everything in sight seemed to be looted. He walked down the halls, and couldn’t get rid of the eerie feeling in his stomach. It was the same feeling as when he would mess with his lion toy…like if he focused as hard as he could, he could remember….but he never did.

He swallowed and kept going, looking for anyone that could be of some help. “Hello?” He called into the dark, “Mr. McClain?”

He turned a corner. It was starting to get dark and he had to strain his eyes to see. “Helloooo?”

He reached a broken pair of double doors. They couldn’t exactly open any longer, so he crouched down, crawling his way in, “Whoa,” he said, under his breath. 

He gaped at the size of the room. He could almost see people dancing, sweeping their way across the floor. He blinked, and they were gone. He wandered to the windows, long ago boarded up. He felt…he felt like there should be a table right here. With food on it. He wondered if that’s the way they set it up. 

He bit his lip and looked around the room again. There was a raised area with a tall portrait. He blinked, and slowly approached it, in a daze. 

There were 5 people in the picture, none human. In the center was a man with pointed ears and silver hair, sitting, and surrounded by what seemed to be his family. Behind him was a young man and young woman with similar features. The young man had an arm around a Galran woman. 

Keith blinked at her multiple times. For some reason, he felt…sad. He was crying. Keith rarely cried, and certainly never because he saw some stranger in a painting. Wiping his eyes quickly, he looked at the 5th and final figure, a boy sitting in the elder man’s lap. The boy was Galran, but not like any Galran Keith had ever seen. He was smaller than most Galra, even for Galran children. His eyes had little red marks underneath, mimicking the blue marks of the alien who’s lap he was sitting in. The boy had just the tiniest of smiles on his face.

He reached out to touch the painting, unsure of who’s face he was reaching for. He ended up resting his hand next to the young woman with silver hair who looked eerily familiar. 

The painting wobbled. Keith pulled his hand away quickly, but that only made the wobbling worse. In less than a second, it was falling forward, directly onto Keith. Keith grunted as it ‘thwumped’ onto him. Damn, the thing was heavier than it looked. Keith pushed as hard as he could until finally, it stood vertical. He let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Hey!” A voice said, behind him. Keith twirled to face the voice. There was a man laying on the floor, trying to stifle his yawning and get up. “I thought Hunk made a deal with you squatters,” The man stood up, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out, “Hunk will make you food as long as you guys keep to the bedrooms ton—“

The man froze as he stared at Keith. He was young, around Keith’s age and only slightly taller, but his skin was darker and hair shorter and brown. He looked at Keith like he had seen the light for the first time. Keith stared back at him, unsure of what to do or say.

“Lance?” Another voice came from behind one of the doors, and two people came out, one large, the other small. Lance…why did that name sound familiar? He supposed while it wasn’t common, he must have known a Lance at some point. The two of them paused when they saw Keith as well, but didn’t look at him with the reverence the first man did. “Who are you?” The large man said. 

The first man, Lance finally broke his gaze to cut the man off, “Hunk, look.” He pointed at Keith. Keith looked behind him, but there was only the painting, so he must have been pointing at him. ‘Hunk’ stared at him for a moment, confused, but then gasped, seeing whatever it was that Lance found so interesting.

“Um,” Keith said, as Hunk leaned down to whisper something to the smallest member of the group, “My name’s Keith. I’m looking for a Mr. McClain, do you know where he is?”

The man, Lance, stepped forward, reverent look diminished, and instead had a broad, knowing smile on his face. He stepped towards Keith slowly, and Keith felt like he should back away, but the painting was at his back. “I’m Lance McClain. You can just call me Lance, though.”

Behind him, the smallest group member gasped, as they seemed to realize whatever it was that made Lance so excited. Keith swallowed, trying to ignore the mystery and remember why he was here. “I need to get to the Balmera. I’ve heard you can help me with that.” 

Lance held his chin, looking Keith up and down. He felt like he was a prize pig at a county fair or something. “I see, I see.” Lance said. Hunk and the small one (Keith hadn’t picked up their name yet) walked forward to join Lance, though they didn’t have nearly his creepy look. “Why do you need to go so badly?”

Keith bit his tongue. He wanted to tell this guy off, but he kept his temper in check for the moment. He still needed that ticket. “It’s…it’s kind of complicated.” Lance stayed quiet, clearly waiting for Keith to continue. Keith sighed, “I’m looking for my family.”

Lance nodded. Hunk cleared his throat, and Keith turned to him, “Hi, Hunk Garrett,” He said, “Why’s your family on Balmera?” 

Keith swallowed, trying to keep his eyes on him, but the way Lance was staring at him was weird. “I um…I don’t actually know where they are. I don’t…this is going to sound weird…I don’t remember them at all. When I was 8 I got amnesia. I don’t remember anything before then.”

“When you were 8, huh?” The smallest piped up. “Oh, you can call me Pidge. “So that would have been, what, 9, 10 years ago?”

Keith frowned at him, “Yeah…” There was definitely something happening here. “Can you guys get me a ticket or not?”

Lance sighed, crossing his arms, “Well…as it happens, we’re all headed to Balmera ourselves. AND we have an extra ticket. But unfortunately, that ticket is reserved for him.” Lance pointed at the portrait. 

Keith turned around to see he was pointing at the boy in the old man’s lap. “A Galran?” he asked.

“A Galran HYBRID,” Lance corrected, and Keith jumped, turning back around. Lance was WAYYY into his personal bubble, not meeting his eyes, but continuing to examine him, and looking between him and the portrait, “And not just ANY Galran hybrid, THE Galran hybrid, the Prince Kalor.” 

“The symbol of peace,” Pidge added.

“Who went missing during the siege of Earth,” Hunk said, “10 years ago…”

Keith looked between the three of them, “What are you guys getting at?” 

Lance reached out and touched the ends of Keith’s hair, “Hair’s in a weird…mullet shape, but a quick cut will fix that,”

Keith smacked his hand away and sidestepped him, “Don’t touch my hair!” He backed away a bit, but the three of them were still in between him and the doors. “What is going ON here?”

“Don’t you see?” Hunk asked, “You’re him!”

Keith frowned at him. “Him who?” In sync, the three of them turned back to the portrait. Keith looked as well, his face falling on the young boy. “The Prince? You think I’M the prince?”

“Well, you have to admit it makes a LITTLE sense,” Pidge said, “You don’t remember things before you were 8…He went missing when he was 8…”

“You’re family is on the Balmera,” Hunk said, “His aunt,” He pointed at the woman with silver hair, “is on the Balmera right now, waiting for him to return.”

Keith looked between them once again, and could only think one thing. They were completely irrational. He eyed the door and started sidestepping again, trying to feel a little less cornered, “I think,” He said, trying to distract them so he could make a run for the door, “you’re forgetting one important point. I’m not Galran.”

“Galran HYBRID,” Lance corrected once again, “And you’re forgetting the most important part, the other half of the prince is Altean. Altean’s are shapeshifters, they can appear as any species they want. And,” Lance cleared his throat and gave Pidge a look, but whatever message he was sending, Pidge was not receiving, “We have it on reasonable authority that the prince might have had Quirrik disease, so he…you…might be stuck in human shape.”

“Uh-huh,” Keith said, not believing a word. “Well, that’s fascinating, but I’m gonna have to disappoint you. In fact, I have to go…somewhere…important….” He edged away, but Lance was walking up to him again.

“We have a way of making sure,” he said, “Pidge, why don’t you go get the testing equipment.” Pidge frowned at him. Lance raised his eyebrows, nodding and thinking something very loud at him, “You know,” Lance said, “The injection…that can determine if a person is Altean or not?”

Pidge gasped, finally understanding, “Oh THAT equipment, yeah, sure,” 

Pidge ran off to grab something from a pile of bags on the floor, but Keith was feeling more panicked than ever. He did NOT like the idea of these weird strangers injecting him with anything, “Um, that’s okay, I know…I mean, I’m 100% positive I’m not Galran or Altean, so…I’m sorry for wasting your time…I’ll leave.”

“Wait!” Lance said, “I promise, this will only take a minute, and, if you’re right, you can go, no harm done. But if I’M right, we can help return you to your family. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what you came here for?” Keith looked into Lance’s eyes, and finally, he didn’t look creepy or weird, but actually…sincere…almost kind…

“Ow!” Keith shouted as he felt a jab in his arm. As he had been looking at Lance, Pidge had come up to him and stabbed him after all. “You can’t just go around STABBING people!” He shouted, rubbing the area. Well, he didn’t feel lightheaded, so at the least it didn’t seem like these people were going to knock him out and kill him. Yet.

Pidge ignored him, staring at a screen in her hands. “Yup, that confirms it,” they said, “50% Galran, 50% Altean DNA.” 

Keith stared at them. No…no way, “Let me see that,” Keith grabbed the scanner, and it indeed said, 50% Galran, 50% Altean. “No…” Keith whispered, almost to himself, “No, this can’t be real. You’ve…fudged it somehow.”

“Oh sure, Keith,” Lance said, “We actually injected you with super advanced nanites that could fake DNA. Come on, man, doesn’t that sound ridiculous?”

Keith paused, thinking on it. Could he really be an alien? “I…” he mumbled. He wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t even sure what he was thinking, “I…I…”

Lance sighed, “I understand. Well, if you’re really not the prince, then I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do for you.” Lance shrugged and turned away from Keith to his friends, “Come on, guys, lets go get some shut eye, we’ll keep looking for the prince in the morning.”

He pulled Pidge and Hunk along with him towards the kitchens. Pidge and Hunk seemed just as surprised as Keith did. After all, with the way Lance had been so insistent earlier, the change of heart was…odd…

 

“What are you doing?” Pidge whispered harshly as Lance guided them away from Keith, “If you weren’t that serious why’d you have me inject him? It’ll take me weeks to synthesize new nanites.”

“Calm down, Pidge, it’s the art of the con,” Lance smiled to his two friends, “We let him come to us. And…three…two…”

 

“Wait!” Keith called after them, slowly jogging up. Lance, smiling, turned back to him, “I still think you’re full of crap…but in the rare event…that its actually true…” Lance nodded annoyingly at him, “I mean, it still gets me to the Balmera. And the way I see it, the only one who can really confirm is the Princess, so…If I am, great, if not…no harm done, as you say.”

Lance nodded again. “Excellent reasoning!” he let go of his friends arms and came back to Keith’s side, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, “Tomorrow we’ll be off!”

Keith ungracefully pushed Lance’s hand off his shoulder, “Yeah…don’t do that.”

For once Lance’s smile fell off his face, “What’s wrong?”

“You think I’m a prince, right?” Keith asked. Lance nodded, “Then you shouldn’t touch me. Or…stay to close to me for that matter.” Keith stepped away from him, “You’re kinda freaking me out.”

“I--!” Lance said, so astonished he was struck speechless. Pidge and Hunk laughed behind their hands, “How am I freaking you out? I’m…I’m charming! And persuasive!” 

“And a little creepy,” Keith said, standing instead next to Hunk, who seemed the friendliest of the lot, “Also, I need a place to sleep. I’ve been traveling all day.”

Hunk let off another chuckle at Lance’s offended face. “Come on, Keith, the most comfortable spots are in the kitchen. Lance’ll stay out here.”

Hunk led Keith through the kitchen doors and onto a comfortable table, and even offered to lend him his jacket to use as a pillow, but Keith gratefully declined, insisting to use his own. 

That night, even when sleeping on an old rickety table and surrounded by strangers, he had the best sleep in months.

 

Of course, he wouldn’t have, if he knew who was watching him, lightyears away.

 

Sendak grimaced. He hated being called down to speak with the druids. Unlike his former king, he did not have a love of magic, but he did acknowledge that the druids had brought about the resurgence of the empire. Still, id didn’t mean they had the right to summon him. He was the leader of the Galran forces, after all.

And yet, here he was, standing, and waiting to be called in. “Enter,” came the raspy voice of Haggar. Sendak obeyed as a good soldier should, and prevented himself from growling at the old woman in her cloak. 

“I have important business to tend to,” Sendak demanded, “As commander I cannot drop everything to come to your beck and—“

“There’s been a development on Earth,” Haggar spoke over him, as though he hadn’t said a word. Sendak’s grimace deepened, and he was just picking out the choicest words to fire at her, when she continued, “The grandson of King Alfor has resurfaced.”

That made Alfor pause “The…you mean the halfbreed?” Haggar didn’t speak, which he took as confirmation, “How do you know?”

“I assumed 10 years ago that sooner or later, he would return to the palace he fled,” Haggar said, “and now he has done so, thus triggering the alarm spell I put up.” 

Sendak nodded, “I can have my Galran forces on the palace within hours. He will die.”

“And give him the chance to slip away yet again? No,” Haggar said, “No, I will take care of him.”

Sendak growled, “If you were taking care of it, why did you call me?”

Finally Haggar turned to him, and he noticed the small…rodent? In her hands. “You said you wished to be kept informed, as commander of the forces. I was extending you that courtesy.”

“Courtesy—“ He knew what this was. He was being thrown a bone so he wouldn’t complain anymore, like a spoiled child, “Witch, with Zarkon gone, I am in command, and I will handle the empire however I see fit. I do not need you to—“

“You are no king, Sendak,” Haggar said, idly stroking the rodent. 

“And you are?” 

She turned her yellow scarred eyes to look at him, “No. Only Zarkon can lead this empire.”

Sendak wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to say to that. “Zarkon is dead. Alfor saw to that.”

“Yes,” Haggar said, looking back down at the rodent, “For now.” Sendak frowned at her, wanting to question her more, but she stopped paying him any attention. “Go my sweet,” She said to the rodent, “Bring me the child’s head.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what even is consistency in chapter length?


	4. In the Dark of the Night part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the crew takes off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there was a comment from the wonderful SalveSiS that the plot isn't exactly like the movie, and I wanted to emphasize that a bit, that while the plot mirrors that of Anastasia, and the characters mirror Voltron characters, its not necessarily a beat-for-beat translation. So, just saying, maybe expect some surprises.

Lance could have sworn that as he handed the ticket information (that Pidge may or may not have stolen), Keith stuck his tongue out at the Captain. The Captain scoffed and stalked away.

 

The four of them made their way to their own compartment that would be their home until they reached the Balmera. Keith had seemed to come to his ‘prince’ title quickly, and grabbed one of the window seats for himself. Pidge and Hunk sat at the opposite end of the opposite couch, Pidge curled up onto Hunk and ready to take a nap. That left a small sliver of space opposite Keith by the window, and one large, comfortable seat beside Keith.

 

Lance grimaced, choosing the smaller space. Or he would have, if only—“YEOW!” Lance shot up and looked back at the seat. Rover was sitting comfortably in the space, and he could swear it was smiling at him. “Pidge, why does the robot get a window seat?”

 

Pidge shrugged, “You don’t expect him to hover the whole trip? It’ll drain his energy source.”

 

“So put it with the LUGGAGE,” Lance said, pointing to where the suitcases were located as he massaged his hurt butt.

 

Pidge shrugged, “He’s comfy.”

 

“Lance, let it go,” Hunk said, nodding at the seat by Keith.

 

Lance sighed and sat down, specifically avoiding eye contact with Keith. “You only like it so much cause YOU’RE a robot,” Lance muttered.

 

Pidge snickered from the side of Hunk’s arm, “I know you mean that as an insult but being downloaded into a robot is basically my dream.”

 

Lance couldn’t stay mad at Pidge for too long. He smirked. “I could see that. I think I’d jump at the chance to have my brain downloaded in a giant ship.”

 

“The amount of information in your brain could be stored in a paper airplane,” Keith muttered into the window.

 

Lance turned to him, sputtering and offended, “Yeah? Well the information in your brain, Keith—“ He cut himself off, unsure of how to finish up the sentence.

 

Keith looked up from the window and stared at him with an eyebrow raised. Outside, the ship rumbled, taking off. “Yeah?” He asked.

 

“Uhh…” Lance said, trying to come up with something. Come on, come on, say something fast, “It’s less than what I have!”

 

“Oh! Good one, Lance!” Hunk said. Pidge glared up at him, then took out a paper and tallied something on it before putting it back in his pocket. Lance decided he was better off NOT knowing whatever it was.

 

Keith rolled his eyes at him. The carriage was silent for a moment. “Hey Lance?” Keith finally asked.

 

Lance sighed, “Yes?”

 

“Do you really think I’m a prince?”

 

Lance frowned at him, slightly surprised. Maybe he was wrong about Keith after all. Maybe he was just nervous about this whole plan and his identity. “You know I do,” He said, in what he hoped was a kind voice.

 

“Then would you go get me some food?”

 

Lance gaped at him. “Get you—I’m not your—You can—“

 

“Okay,” Hunk said, pushing Pidge off of him, “You know what, food sounds like a great idea. We’ll be right back.” Hunk grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him up. Pidge took out the paper again and put on another tally mark.

 

Lance was still sputtering as Hunk pulled him out of the carriage. Once the door shut behind them, he stopped trying to fight Hunk and instead followed, scowling. “Oh, when this is all over I’m going to STRANGLE him.”

 

“Oh, calm down,” Hunk said, “In fairness, you WERE coming on a bit hard with the flirting back at the palace.”

 

“FLIRTING?!” Lance said, sputtering now at Hunk. Hunk smiled at him, “I have serious problems with your idea of romance if you think that’s how I flirt.”

 

“Oh, I know how you flirt, Lance,” Hunk said, “Badly.”

 

Lance gaped at him, “That’s it, you’re out of the job.” Lance said, “Just pack up your stuff, we’ll get you a shuttle back to Earth.”

 

Hunk chuckled, not at all threatened by Lance. “Who’s going to teach Keith about being a Prince? You?”

 

“I could.” Lance said, and Hunk laughed. “I could! I mean, I could teach anyone ELSE to be Prince…” Lance sighed. They reached the dining hall and grabbed plates to bring back to the room, “With Keith though? We’ll need a whole damn personality transplant.”

 

“Oh, give him time,” Hunk said.

 

He took a deep breath, and Lance knew him well enough to know that look meant he was thinking something but didn’t want to say it. “Spill it,” Lance said. Hunk looked up, from filling his plate with goo, surprised, “Come on, you might as well.”

 

Hunk sighed, “It’s just…I don’t like lying to him, about who he is. I mean, I thought we were bringing on a fourth member who would like…be in on it with us. What are we going to tell him once this is all done?”

 

Lance smiled, “Relax, we’ll figure something out. He’ll lie better if he thinks he’s telling the truth. Heck, maybe he NEVER finds out, and we can just let the princess deal with him forever.” Lance filled up his own plate, and a second for…ugh, Keith.

 

Hunk screwed up his face, unsatisfied, “But Lance…what if the REAL Kalor shows up?”

 

“The real Kalor’s DEAD, Hunk.” Lance said, a little too quickly and a little too loudly. A couple of others in the hall looked at them. Lance swallowed, picking up the plates and started heading out the door.

 

Hunk followed him quickly. “Did you…” Hunk asked, softly, “Did you ever meet him?”

 

Lance blinked at him. “Who?”

 

“The prince,” Hunk said, “I know you worked at the palace as a kid…but…you don’t talk about it much…”

 

Lance shrugged. “Not much to talk about.” Hunk was looking at him all concerned. Lance smiled at him, trying to diffuse the tension, “I met him once, at a party. It really wasn’t anything.” He could tell Hunk suspected more, but he didn’t press the issue. “And let me tell you, he was WAY nicer than Keith.”

 

Hunk rolled his eyes, “Keith is plenty nice.”

 

“No,” Lance interjected as they rounded the corner to the hallway their room was in, “No he isn’t, he’s weird and sarcastic and broody and mean to everyone.”

 

Lance opened the door to find Pidge and Keith laughing so hard they were clutching their stomachs. Hunk leaned in to whisper into Lance’s ear, “Yeah, he’s just so mean.”

 

“Shut up,” Lance whispered back, but Hunk was already resuming his seat, handing the spare plate to Pidge.

 

“What’s so funny?” Hunk asked.

 

Pidge wiped her eyes as they calmed down enough to eat their food. “Oh, Keith was just telling me some stories from the orphanage to help me feel better.”

 

Lance handed Keith his plate. “Feel better?” Lance asked, “What did he do?”

 

“Oh, calm your tits, Lance,” Pidge said, “I was just telling him about my father and brother.”

 

Lance blinked. Pidge hardly liked to talk about his family to Lance and Hunk, and they already knew. “And I was just saying,” Keith said, “That I’d do what it takes to help Pidge find them.”

 

Lance took a bite of the weird ship rations, “Oh yeah?” He said, not bothering to close his mouth. Keith frowned at him, disgusted, “And how are you going to do that?”

 

Keith ate a bite of his own meal, specifically swallowing before answering, “Well, I’d give them my share of the reward money.”

 

Lance choked on the bite he was swallowing. It took him a moment to stop coughing and get the tears out of his eyes, “Reward money?” he asked, trying and failing to sound innocent, “What reward money?”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow at him, “The reward money for returning me to my family.”

 

Lance glared daggers at Pidge. Pidge dropped her eyes to their plate. “Oh really?” Lance said, “they told you about that?”

 

Keith nodded, continuing to eat and ignoring any signs that Lance was annoyed, “Of course. I mean, I won’t need my share once I’m with my family. And any money Pidge can use to find her family the better, right?” Keith turned to him, “I can’t imagine having your family taken by the Galra,”

 

Pidge smiled, “Thanks, Keith.”

 

Keith smirked, “So, Hunk,” Keith said, “Why are you here?”

 

Hunk raised an eyebrow at him. Lance tried to give him a look that expressed, ‘See? Mean!’ but Hunk was ignoring him. “What do you mean?”

 

“Well,” Keith said, “Lance I can see just being in this whole thing for the money. But I don’t see that for you. So, what’s in this for you?”

 

Lance grumbled into his food, and Hunk smiled, trying to swallow his laughter, “To give Lance credit where credit is due, we’re here for the same reason.” Hunk swallowed another bite of food, “We’re using the reward money to help get our families off Earth.”

 

Keith’s eyebrows shot up, “How?”

 

“Well,” Hunk said, “Even if, say, you were involved with some black market stuff, it’s hard moving that many people past Galran security. The only way is to book passage, and for that you need money.”

 

Keith nodded, “That’s surprisingly noble, Lance,”

 

Lance shrugged, “I’m a noble kinda guy.”

 

Pidge rolled his eyes. They finished the last morsels on their plate and stood up. “Hey, Hunk” Pidge said, done with her meal “go comfy.” She latched onto his arm and fell asleep within minutes.

 

Hunk and Keith chatted a little more, quietly, while Lance sulked. He closed his eyes to try and sleep like Pidge, but he kept getting distracted by Keith’s voice, and he jerked awake. Jerk.

 

Pidge eventually woke up after a few hours and decided they wanted to check out the engines, and Hunk instantly agreed, giving Lance a sly smile as he got up.

 

Lance and Keith each sighed, the silence filling the cabin. Lance couldn’t take it. Curse Hunk, he knew he hated awkward silences. This was all a ploy to get him to talk to Keith and try and get along with him.

 

Lance got up and sat across from Keith in the seat once occupied by Rover. “So,” He said, trying to get Keith’s attention. Unfortunately, Keith’s attention seemed to have turned back to the window. “I think we got off to a bad start.”

 

“I agree,” Keith said, glancing up, before turning back.

 

Lance nodded, “But you know, I’m just trying to HELP you,”

 

“I know,” Keith said, not looking up. “And I appreciate your apology,”

 

“Whoa, wait, apology?” He said, “Who said anything about an apology, I didn’t do anything.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes, “Whatever.”

 

Lance scoffed. He was hopeless. He turned and looked out the window. Earth was barely a dot in the distance. “Do you think you’ll miss it?” Keith asked.

 

“What?” Lance spat at him, perhaps a little viciously.

 

Keith glared at him, “Earth,” Lance realized he must have been looking at the same blue dot. “Do you think you’re ever going back?”

 

Lance shrugged, “I dunno. Maybe I would have once…before the Galra.”

 

Keith nodded, “What was it like?”

 

Lance raised an eyebrow, “What was what like?”

 

“Earth.” Keith demanded, “Before the invasion. I don’t remember any of it.”

 

Lance didn’t particularly like thinking back to old times. They always hurt. He gave a noncommittal shrug, “It was nice.”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow. “You’re usually more talkative than that.”

 

“You’ve known me for a day,” Lance spat back, “You don’t know my ‘usually’.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Fine. Don’t tell me.”

 

They sat in silence for what was probably a minute, but unfortunately Keith was right, Lance did like to talk, and the silence was agony. “It was really nice.” Lance said. Keith looked up from the window. “I mean, there were good people and bad people same as anywhere I guess….and I mean I don’t have much to compare it to, I’ve never been off-planet…but it was…good.”

 

Keith nodded, and gave him a tiny smile. Thus the two of them had their first civil conversation.

 

Lance was going to speak more about good things about Earth…when instead of Keith’s face in front of him, he saw the face of Kalor, young, happy…alive. He shook the image out of his head before he heard in the back of his memory a woman yelling across the years, _FATHER!_

“Lance?” Keith asked, frowning at him. It wasn’t his usual irritation, but a look of concern.

 

Lance blinked back the memories and sent them back to where they belonged. “Sorry, its nothing.”

 

Keith’s frown only deepened, but he didn’t have time to respond as Pidge and Hunk ran into the room, slamming the door shut behind them. “Uhhhhh Lance?” Hunk said, “We need to go,”

 

“Go?” Lance asked, “Go where?”

 

Pidge shoved a data pad into his face. Lance blinked, and then saw pictures of the three of them. Overtop the pictures read the label ‘Wanted criminals: Lance McClain, Hunk Garrett, Katie Holt.’ “Oh, yeah, we have to go,” Lance said, jumping up and grabbing his bag.

 

“What’s going on?” Keith asked, confused as the three grabbed all their bags.

 

“Uhh, seat change,” Lance said, too panicked to think of a convincing lie, “Come on,” He grabbed Keith’s arm and pulled him out the compartment.

 

Pidge led the charge down to the baggage area, where they finally stopped running, all 4 trying to catch their breath. “You guys…don’t happen to be hiding out…do you?”

 

The three of them gave shaky smiles, “Hey,” Lance said, “The business of Prince rescuing is a messy one.”

 

They all jumped as alarms went off around them, red lights flashing. “Are you guys hard-core criminals or something?” Keith said, “Like did you murder someone?”

 

“No!” Pidge protested, “I don’t know why they’re chasing us so hard!”

 

“Guys,” Hunk said, looking out the window, “I don’t think the alarms are for us.”

 

They jumped over to look out the window, and stared at the monster blasting towards the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooh cliffhanger! next chapter more action.
> 
> And yeah, I know the monsters didn't fly in space, but this one is special. Shush. It's space magic.


	5. In the Dark of the Night Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The monster attacks

“What the hell is THAT?” Pidge asked, as the giant space rodent with rockets sped toward them. 

“I don’t know,” Lance said, “But it doesn’t look friendly.”

At that moment, the overhead speakers dinged, “Passengers,” The captain’s voice came through, “We’re running into a situation. Please secure yourself and belongings in your seats.”

“Well, what do we do?” Keith demanded, “Should we go back to our seats?”

“We won’t make it all the way back if we wanted to!” Lance said, watching the rodent approach. It sped towards them, with no sense of stopping. 

“Brace yourselves!” Hunk said, grabbing a ledge in the wall with one hand, and the nape of Pidge’s shirt with the other. 

Lance looked around, but didn’t find anything to grab onto before WHAM. Lance and Keith tumbled backwards, and Pidge flew into the air, dangling from Hunk’s arms like a kite. Lance reached out and grabbed for Keith, cushioning his fall as he himself knocked into someone’s luggage. “LANCE!” Hunk called after him.

The ship shifted and Lance shook his head trying to clear it from the impact. He was lucky he didn’t hit the wall or he’d be out. Keith climbed off of him and looked down, “I’m alright, I’m alright,” He breathed. Keith took his hand and pulled him up. 

“It’s coming back around!” Pidge shouted, back on their feet and looking out the window.

“We gotta get out of the baggage area,” Hunk said, still holding onto the wall. There was another, smaller crash that only caused them to stumble, and the sound of screeching metal. 

“We gotta get off of this SHIP!” Keith called, “Are there escape pods or something?”

Hunk finally released Pidge, and she stumbled to keep balance while opening what seemed to be a holographic projection of the ships blueprints on his watch. 

“The pods are over by the passenger compartments,” Pidge said, “But the shuttlebay is down a deck. We can go down the lift over there,” Pidge points out the door.

Before he could take two steps, the screeching metal sound started again. All four of them fell to their knees, clutching their ears. “WHAT’S HAPPENING?” Keith shouted. Lance shook his head, trying to get up towards the window.

Finally, the screeching came to a terribly frightening stop. Hunk recovered first, looking out, “Uh, guys?” Hunk said, swallowing, “I don’t think we can get to the lift.”

They got up, and once again looked to see what he did. The monster had literally ripped the back half of the ship off. “Doors sealed” The overhead voice chimed. 

“What do we do?” Lance cried, looking to the two smartest people he knew. They both swallowed and shook their heads, at a total loss. 

“Any of you have a blaster?” Keith said, “Laser gun? Anything?” Lance handed over his blaster, which Keith took readily, pulling off the safety and firing repeatedly into the floor. Lance flinched away from him as he burned a hole in the metal plates. Before he knew it, a small hole had made its way through to the deck below. 

“Well,” Pidge said, “That’s one way to get down.” Keith beckoned them over and Hunk went first, sucking in as much of his weight as he could. He fell with a crash down below. “Hunk, you alright?” Pidge called down.

“Yup,” Hunk said, with difficulty, “Yeah, yeah I’m here. Come on down, I’ll catch you.”

Pidge sat at the rim, Rover hovering over her. At that moment, the ship, or their part of the ship at least, started to shake again, harder this time. Pidge fell through the hole, though luckily Rover ducked down to act as a handhold, lowering him down. 

Keith and Lance were less lucky, once again, thrown around with the bags. When they stilled once again, they were strewn on opposite sides. Keith massaged his head, but made his way back to the hole, “Lance, come on, we gotta go,”

“Wait,” Lance said, frowning and searching the area he landed in, “I dropped my bag.”

“Leave it!” Keith demanded, “We have to get to the shuttles!”

“I’m not leaving without my bag!” Lance said, throwing various luggage items aside. 

“What the hell is so important?” Keith asked. Lance ignored him as he finally found it and ran over. He jumped down the hole, landing hard, and waited for Keith to join him. He was a little annoyed that Keith seemed to land so perfectly on the ground.

Pidge was already at the helm of one of the shuttles, desperately hacking their way through the security measures. “Everyone in!” They shouted, closing them into the small shuttle. 

The ship kept shaking. “Why is it still attacking THIS part of the ship?” Hunk asked, “There aren’t any passengers back here!”

“Maybe its not after the passengers?” Lance asked.

“Less theorizing, more shutting up so I can concentrate,” Pidge shouted, typing into the controls at the speed of light. “Uggghhhhh,” Pidge groaned, slamming their fists on the dashboard. 

“What?” Hunk asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve got everything working,” Pidge said, “But the stress from tearing has jammed the doors. It needs to be opened manually.”

The metal groaned around them. Hunk said something involving a technical solution, to which Pidge gave some smart reason for why it wouldn’t work, but Lance had long stopped listening. Instead, he focused on the spare space suit tucked in the shuttle. 

Coming up with a quick plan, he shoved his bag into Keith’s arms, “Do not open this unless you have physical evidence of my dead body,” He said, and grabbed the suit, stepping in and pulling it around him. 

“What are you doing?” Hunk asked him.

“I’m gonna go clear the bay doors,” Lance said, continuing to zip up. 

“Out there?” Hunk said, “With the giant space alien?” Lance nodded. “If you die out there, your mom’s gonna kill me.”

Lance snorted, finishing up the zippers. Keith chewed his lip, then reached for a second suit, “I’m coming with you.”

“No you most certainly are not,” Lance said, smacking his hand away, “Prince, remember? Now sit comfy and watch me be a hero.” He put the helmet on his head and headed out the shuttle doors. 

The ship outside was already crumbling around them as the monster clawed into it. He took a few steps, getting used to the magnets in his boots that kept him from flying out into space. He felt the eyes of his friends (and Keith) on him as he approached the doors. He made his way to the manual override, and pulled on the wheel. 

With a screech, the doors started to open, and everything not nailed down in the bay started to fly out. More alarms blared, and the voice overhead said, “Warning: Bay depressurization.

It took all of his strength to turn the wheel, and he realized that there was a bit of metal stuck in the track for the doors. He reached for his blaster to shoot it free, before he realized he had given it to Keith. He started walking over to it in order to try and pull it out with his hands. Once the bay had totally adjusted to the void of space, it was eerily quiet. He could only hear his own ragged breathing as he kept walking, not even hearing his boots on the ground. 

If he could hear, he might have heard his friends behind him frantically yelling at him to come back to the ship, trying to warn him of what they saw, but as it was, Lance had already reached the doors before he noticed the danger. The good news was he didn’t need to worry about clearing the doors anymore. The bad news was that it was because the monster’s head was at the doors, biting and tearing its way through the metal. 

Lance gaped at it. Something like that shouldn’t EXIST. One of its teeth was the size of Lance and razor sharp. One of it’s giant orb eyes flickered to him for just a moment, before turning it’s gaze on the shuttle. It’s eyes zeroed in on Keith, and gave what would have been an ear splitting roar, if it weren’t for the fact it was silent in space.

Lance turned around and started running as fast as his magnetic boots would allow him towards the ship. 

Inside the shuttle Keith stared in horror at the monster. “I…I think it’s looking at me,”

“It’s gonna eat Lance!” Pidge shouted in horror.

“Are there any weapons on this thing?” Hunk cried, pressing on the controls. As he said it, the handles for a gatling gun rose from the ground. “That’ll work,” Hunk grabbed ahold of them without a second thought, and fired at the monster.

The monster’s head reared back in anguish, but did not let go of the ship. It reached a strange claw into the bay, trying to grab the ship, but only managed to tear through the sheets of metal, including the sheet that Lance was magnetically attached to. It went flying off into space, dragging Lance with it. Lance screamed, but only he could hear.

“Pidge,” Keith demanded, “Hand over the controls!” Pidge backed away and Keith sat down, grabbing hold of the handles and activating the engines. 

“We have to get Lance!” Pidge said, hovering over Keith’s shoulder.

“One thing at a time,” He said, flicking switches. “Hunk, keep firing!” 

“I haven’t stopped!” Hunk said, clicking the trigger button as often as he could manage.

The shuttle hovered over the floor, and Keith stared the beast dead in the eyes, “You don’t have an opening!” Pidge said.

“Then I’ll make one!” 

All three of them screamed as Keith rammed the shuttle forward into the monster’s face. They slammed into it, Hunk still firing and they all shook as the shuttle came free of the bay and the monster’s face. 

The monster turned to them, all of it’s energy focused on the small shuttle, that they were already pretty sure was crumpled from the crash. Hunk continued firing at it, but it opened its jaws, attempting to crush them with it’s teeth. Keith just managed to swerve out of the way.

“It’s not going down!” Hunk said, “There’s no way these guns are going to be able to kill it!” 

Keith put the ship into a nosedive, “Aim for the rockets at it’s feet!” Keith said back, “If we can set it adrift it won’t chase after us!

Hunk re-adjusted the cannons and fired at the metal attached to the monster. One rocket went out. Unfortunately, distracted by their success, Keith was unable to dodge another of the claw attacks, which scraped across their engine, “I’ve lost half our thrusters. Hunk I need those rockets down.”

“Working on it!” Hunk continued firing. 

“Look!” Pidge shouted, pointing out the window. Floating just by the monster was Lance, trying desperately to get away but without any kind of leverage, only managed to flail.

Keith thought fast, “Hunk, keep firing. Pidge take these and get ready, we’re going to need to get our top speed out as soon as the rockets are down.” He handed the controls to her and jumped up, grabbing the second suit and a pile of cable that he tied around his waist.

“You can’t!” Pidge said over their shoulder and tried to dodge at the same time, “Remember what Lance said?”

“Lance can have a say in this when he’s inside the shuttle,” Keith said, shoving his helmet on. He jumped into the depressurization area, tied the cable to the ship, and when he was perfectly lined up, jumped out towards the floating body of Lance. 

He grabbed ahold of Lance’s waist. Lance stared at him incredulously. What he didn’t expect was for the monster to change targets from the shuttle to grab ahold of Keith and Lance, holding them both in its giant claws. 

Keith, thankfully, did not forget about Lance’s blaster, and so fired it into the flesh. 

Below them, Hunk destroyed the second rocket. The claw released them in pain, and Keith felt a pull on the cable, and he held on as tight as he could as the shuttle drove away from the flying monster. They both watched as the monster grabbed at them fruitlessly. 

Hunk reeled them in and they gasped for breath inside the shuttle. “I told you,” Lance said, throwing his helmet across the floor, “to stay here. What do they even teach you in those orphanages?”

Keith rolled his eyes, leaning up against the wall, “You’re welcome.”

They sat opposite each other, catching their breaths, until finally, Lance said, so low Keith almost missed it, “Thank you.” Keith frowned at him, trying to determine if he was serious. Lance didn’t look at him, instead turning to Pidge in the pilot’s chair, “Pidge, do we have enough fuel to get us to Balmera?”

“Not even close,” Pidge said, “I’m looking for a nearby planet to land on. There’s one here…Arus isn’t too far, we should be able to find some transport there.”

Lance nodded, grabbing his bag Keith had dropped on the floor and feeling to make sure the contents were still inside, “Great,” he said, “I’m going to take a nap.” And he slumped down on the floor to do just that.

 

Sendak walked down to Haggar’s personal ship. Why she had her own ship was beyond him, but he could never really find the ability to protest, but he had news to relay to her. 

He opened the hatch to find the small ship empty. He frowned, wondering where she could be. No one had ever been alone in a place reserved for the druids. The opportunity was too great. 

Slowly he stepped forward, letting the doors close behind him. He examined each corner, assuring himself the ship was empty before reaching a control panel. He read it over quickly. There was a button simply labeled ‘open.’ Open what? Hesitantly, he pressed it.

Yellow light washed over him as the walls around him slid aside, revealing a hidden laboratory. On the edges were jars and jars and tanks filled with a golden liquid. But that was not what interested him. What caught his one remaining eye was the medical pod laying horizontal in the center of the lab. 

Sendak stepped toward it. A warrior all his life, he had never been more scared of what he might find lying in that pod. He knew what it was instantly and he hissed in disgust and recoiled.

“Beautiful, wouldn’t you say?” Haggar’s voice whispered directly behind him. He spun on his heel. He towered over her, and yet still felt like the one who was being intimidated.

“What—“ He sputtered, “What ABOMINATION are you creating?”

“That pod,” Haggar said, making her way to it, “holds the key to the revival of the Galran Empire.”

He snarled at her, “You’re sick.”

“No,” She said, looking down at the pod lovingly, “No, I am a visionary.”

“You cannot think,” Sendak said, “You cannot honestly believe that this will work.”

“It will work.” She said, rapping her hand on the pod, “I am only missing two ingredients.” 

Sendak frowned “You can’t mean….the boy?” he swallowed, “We have word of the monster attack. Did you kill him?”

“I will take care of him,” Haggar said, “I need you and your troops to get the second. You have to take the Balmera.”

Sendak scoffed at her, “Just take the Balmera. Have you not been paying attention, woman? We all but lost the war the first time, and now we could very well lose it again. The Balmera is guarded by shields our ships cannot penetrate.”

“But if we take it,” Haggar continued, “We could win the war within a day.”

Sendak shook his head at her, “It’s not that simple.”

“Look,” She motioned to the figure within the pod, “All we need is right here. All you have to do…is trust me.”

Trusting her was the last thing he wanted to do. But he looked into the pod. If she was right…if there was even a chance she was right, he had to take it. “I’ll go explore our options.” He said, “You take care of the brat.”

“With pleasure,” she preened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is a day later than I meant to, if you follow me on tumblr you may have noticed life is a bit tricky atm. But, I'll still get chapters out, I'm really looking forward to some later ones.


	6. Learn To Do It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finds out about another part of the plan.

“You are the worst pilot ever!” 

“Shut up, Keith!”

Keith, Pidge, and Hunk screamed as Lance desperately tried to get the ship under control. 

After waking up from his (much deserved, he said) nap, Lance was appalled to find Keith piloting the shuttle towards Arus. He quickly took control, glaring not only at him, but at his friends who had allowed this to happen. Pidge had only shrugged, muttering “he’s a good pilot.” Lance ignored this.

The shuttle had taken damage in the monster attack, but flew pretty well in the void of space. However, entering Arus’ atmosphere was a different story.

“Look out for that overhang!” Pidge called to him.

“No worries!” Lance said, feigning confidence, “You know what they called me back home on the simulator? They called me the tailor because of how I thread the needle.”

“This isn’t a simulator!” Hunk calls to him, as they knock the rocks for the overhang.

“Well that’s good,” Lance says, grabbing at various controls, all of which weren’t responding, “I always wreck the simulator.”

“Hold on!” Keith said as the ship went into a nosedive and crash-landed on the surface. 

After what felt like an eternity, the shaking stopped. Lance realized that at some point he had closed his eyes, and so opened them, looking around. 

Hunk burst out of the ship and threw up on the ground outside. Pidge was clutching their chair and trying to reclaim their breath. Keith was in a similar situation, but recovered quicker, glaring at Lance, “What the HELL was that?”

Lance sneered at him, “I’m a pilot, I was piloting!”

“You said you’d never left Earth!” 

“I was in training!” Lance screamed back. Well, kind of. More of sneaking into simulators, but Keith didn’t need to know that. 

“You nearly got us all KILLED!” Keith screamed back, “Now we have to walk however the fuck far it is to find a civilization with a ship that can take us to Balmera!”

Lance shot up out of the chair and got into Keith’s face, practically head-to-head with him, “I saved your miserable LIFE!”

“No,” Keith said, “I saved YOUR life! All YOU did was float around helplessly in the middle of SPACE!”

“I think you’re FORGETTING everyone’s roles here!” Lance screamed in his face, then pointed to Pidge, “Technician,” He pointed outside to where Hunk was wiping his mouth of the dinner they had eaten on the ship, “Engineer and etiquette instructor,” He pointed to himself, “Pilot and mastermind,” finally he pointed to Keith, “Little SHIT who doesn’t do anything but look nice for the Princess, got it?”

Keith frowned, confused for a moment, but before he could shout at Lance again, Pidge got in between them, “ENOUGH!” She shouted, “Would the both of you PLEASE settle down for like TWO TICKS! Keith,” he glared daggers at him, “This ship is damaged enough it wouldn’t MATTER who was in the piloting chair, once it hit atmosphere it was going down, and we’re lucky Lance managed to keep us all alive.” Keith grimaced, but Lance smirked smugly. That expression quickly quelled as the glare turned to him, “As for YOU, stop being such an egomaniacal asshole! You owe Keith your life and your constant jealous whining is getting REALLY ANNOYING.”

Lance screwed up his face, backing away from both Keith and Pidge, struck surprisingly silent. Hunk, who looked significantly paler, re-entered the shuttle and leaned on the wall for support, “Ditto everything Pidge said.”

Keith still looked confused, but turned to Hunk. “What did he mean by etiquette lessons?”

Hunk blinked at him, and then shuffled, slightly guilty. “Well, I mean, you are a prince, so, I can teach you how to be…princely and all that. I’m sure you must not remember.”

Keith shrugs, a tiny bit of fear in his eyes, “Well, I mean of course I don’t,” he looked between the three of them, “But can’t we just explain to the Princess why I don’t remember?” The three looked uneasy. Pidge and Hunk turned to Lance, trying to convey some thought without speaking. “What’s going on?”

Lance sighed, “Look, your highness,” he said sarcastically, “You know how Pidge mentioned the reward money?” Keith nodded, hesitant, “There are some people, some lowborn scum who would do anything to cheat a princess out of her money, so, they, you know, pretend to be the prince. You.”

Keith was still confused, “But a blood scans would solve that instantly,” Keith shrugged, “I mean, there can’t be that many Galran/Altean hybrids out there.”

“Well…I guess you’re right,” Lance said nervously, “But um…you see some people, can actually fake blood scans. So before they let people see the Princess…they have to…you know…prove that they’re the prince. You.” 

With each passing word, Keith slowly transitioned from confused to angry. “No.” He said sternly, “No, no no one said anything about PROVING myself to anyone.”

“Well,” Lance said, “I’m saying it NOW,”

“Look, meeting her, yes, but LIE?” Keith asked, “I can’t—“

“Don’t worry,” Hunk said, patting him on the back, “I can tell you everything you need to know, you’ll be fine.” 

“I WILL NOT BE FINE!” Keith yelled, and it was the first time Pidge or Lance saw someone yell at Hunk. No one yelled at Hunk. Except sometimes Lance when he was being dramatic, but never SINCERELY. “I just—“ He swallowed, “I can’t.” And he stormed out of the shuttle out into the planet.

Lance stepped forward, prepared to drag him back, but Hunk grabbed his shoulder. “I got this one.”

 

Keith found a lake and sat by it, looking down at his reflection. He wiped his hand in the water, scattering the image into ripples. 

He heard footsteps approach. “Fuck off L—Oh,” He looked up to see the friendly image of Hunk sitting beside him. “Sorry.”

“Eh, its fine,” Hunk said. 

They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the lake. “Do you really think I’m a Prince, Hunk?”

Hunk bit his inner cheek. “The question is do YOU think you are.” 

Keith sighed, “I’ve always thought…I’ve thought there was something more in my life.” Half unconsciously, he pulled his little Lion figurine out of his pocket. He showed it to Hunk who took it in his hands. 

“There’s writing on it,” Hunk said, squinting to try and make it out. 

“It says Balmera,” Keith said, “Or it did, once.” He swallowed, “I looked at that thing every night at the orphanage, and I’d tell everyone that it was where my family was.”

Hunk nodded, “And what did they say?”

Keith sighed, “They told me I was a stupid orphan who didn’t know his goddamn place. And that all I would ever be was a stupid orphan with discipline issues and a bad attitude.” He looked up from the lake into Hunk’s eyes. “How do I go from that to being a Prince?”

Hunk was silent for a moment, considering his response. “Did you know, that I was once a nobleman’s son?”

Keith wasn’t sure how the conversation had gotten to that point, but he went along with it, “Uh, no, I didn’t.”

Hunk nodded, “My father actually worked with the Altean royalty once. Your family. We were off-planet when the occupation started, and for a few years after we were allowed to still keep our status and money, as long as we swore loyalty to the Galra.” He looked out into the lake, lost in memories. “But, of course, the Galra kept demanding more and more, and soon enough my family was in squalor, and I was squatting with Lance,”

Keith paused, but his story seemed to be over, “I’m sorry.”

Hunk smirked. “My point is, a title is just a title. Sure there are some rules and what not, but what really determines someone’s value is what’s in your heart. And you are a…passionate and very, very good guy.” His smirk grows into a real smile, “Pidge was right, you saved all of our lives back on the ship. Plus you’re just a nice person.”

Keith smiled and looked down into his lap, embarrassed. “still doesn’t mean I’m a prince.” 

Hunk shrugged, “You came and sought us out, which means you already know you aren’t the kid those people at the orphanage told you that you were. Admittedly, you could work some work on manners and etiquette, but that’s just a set of rules. You already ARE a Prince, Keith.” 

Keith looked back down at the lake. The lake had relaxed and his reflection re-formed. “Alright,” He said, surprising even himself, “Alright, lets do this.” 

 

Pidge and Lance gathered up the supplies for the shuttle and Pidge had used a map to find the closest city. It was a long walk, but there was a village slightly closer that they were hoping to grab some kind of ground transport at. 

First off for Prince lessons was easily done as they walked, as it was trivia. “Alright, let me try this,” Keith said, “My great-great…great? grandmother was Queen Marisa that was most well known for organizing safe mining of Balmera crystals.” Hunk nodded, “Then…her son was Alfor the first, who had Lion Castle built?”

Hunk shook his head. “That was Marisa’s grandson. Alfor the first’s mother was Marisa’s daughter, who negotiated the trade deal between the Alteans and the—“

“The Meras,” Keith finished, “I remember now. And then King Alfor the second was my grandfather who fought and defeated the Galra, until he died,” He could have sworn Lance flinched at that, but he ignored it, “and his heir was Princess Allura.” 

Hunk nodded, “Well done! You got it!” 

Keith sighed, but he was getting uncertain about the next question he knew he had to ask, “What…what happened to my parents?” 

Hunk looked instantly uncomfortable. “Uh…well, what do you know about them?”

“I know the prince was Allura’s younger brother, and his wife was a Galran woman.” Keith said, “And…their marriage was controversial or something? Because of the war? And they were killed by Zarkon.” 

Hunk swallowed, nervous, “That…covers the basics. Because he wasn’t the heir to the throne, Prince Alor enlisted to fight in the war. He was then captured by a Galran Commander, Commander Kassa.” Hunk chewed his lip, “It’s not exactly certain what happened on that ship, but…Alor escaped back to Altea, with Kassa in tow. They said they were in love and got married.

“Everyone kind of expected the king to disinherit his son for that. Some even demanded it. But he accepted Kassa as part of his own family and made a big speech on the importance of bringing the war to a peaceful end. But Zarkon…Zarkon was furious. Proclaimed that Kassa had been kidnapped and redoubled his efforts to fight the Alteans, even entering the battle himself.” Hunk shivered, “I wasn’t even alive then, but the stories Dad told me…”

“But…” Keith said, “They died to kill him.” 

Hunk nodded, “More or less. Zarkon had taken their child, the prince…you…hostage. Together, they managed to infiltrate the ship, send Kalor—you—off in a pod to King Alfor…and destroyed the ship with both of them, and Zarkon, on it.” Hunk bit his lip and shrugged, “And then the war was considered over.”

“Don’t you think that’s enough history?” Lance said from behind them, “I mean, you JUST got to the part where Kalor was born, talk about something the prince would actually remember.” 

Keith scowled at him, “I think you’re forgetting everyone’s roles here,” Keith said, “You’re mastermind and piloting, Hunk is etiquette lessons. So pipe down.” Pidge snorted at that.

Lance poked him in the back. Keith turned on him, ready to fight physically if that’s what Lance was going for, but Lance just said, “Stand up straight, Prince’s don’t slouch.” Lance demonstrated, straightening his back as much as it would go, “A prince walks tall and confident. Well, as tall as you can, anyway.” He patted Keith’s head. 

Keith scowled, but tried to keep his back straight as Lance instructed, “What, were you the son of a nobleman too?” Keith asked.

“No,” Lance said. Keith was about to make some remark about how that was good, because the idea of Lance being a noble might stretch his imagination too far, but Lance kept talking, “My dad was a cook in the palace kitchens. I spent more than enough time watching snobby rich kids.”

“Hey,” Hunk said, “I was a snobby rich kid.”

“And here you are, working for a kitchen rat.” Lance said, his words harsh but his tone filled with warmth as he smiled at his friend, “Oh how the mighty have fallen.” 

Hunk chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Lets move on to people you’d know. Obviously, there was Alfor and your Aunt Allura. Allura was known for her great beauty, but also as a diplomat and a strong leader.”

“Like, she lead people well?” Keith asked.

“Well…yes, but in this case I mean like she could throw a full grown man down a hallway.” Hunk said. “Beyond royalty though, Kalor had attendants around him at all times of the day. He was assigned a bodyguard, Takashi Shirogane, a lieutenant from the war who won a lot of honors.” That was it, Keith DEFINITELY saw Lance flinch out of the corner of his eye. “he would insist to be called Shiro, though.”

Keith nodded, “Got it. Takashi Shirogane—Shiro—fought in the war, now my bodyguard.”

“Good.” Hunk said, “Then there was the King’s Steward, Coran. He’s still with Allura, he managed to be off planet during the raid on Earth. He was known for being kinda a goofy guy, would go on for history for a LONG time, but he was well-loved, and King Alfor’s most trusted advisor.”

Keith nodded again, realizing he had started to slouch and so straightened up again. “Coran. Steward, trusted advisor, goofy mustache.”

Hunk blinked. “I…I don’t think I said anything about his mustache,” he said. Keith frowned at him, “I mean, he does have one…”

Keith shrugged, “I must have read about it somewhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had meant to get chapters out daily or at least more often than this but here we are. I'll try and get them more quickly from now on, but no promises.


	7. Never Should Have Let Them Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith continues to train to be a Prince, and grows curious about Lance.

Prince training, Keith decided, was a hell of a lot worse than monster-fighting. Sure, monster fighting had been horrifying, but he hadn’t had much time to think, only act. Now all he did was think, trying to memorize facts while also trying to ‘look princely’ whatever that meant.

Pidge usually sat out these things, sitting on Hunk’s shoulders and messing with their tech to do…something. Keith didn’t bother to ask.

He wished Lance would have the same restraint, allowing him to study with Hunk alone, but Lance seemed to think it was his job to lecture Keith right alongside Hunk, mostly about sitting up or not slurping or some other stupid thing princes weren’t allowed to do.

And when he wasn’t lecturing, he was mocking. As Keith practiced the proper way to bow, he saw Lance mimicking him behind Hunk’s back with a snicker on his face. Not to mention the way he kept saying “Your highness,” all sarcastically.

And Keith really wanted to hate him. Like, he REALLY wanted to. But every once in a while Lance would be quiet, contemplative, and Keith was more curious about him than anything. Mostly about what was in his bag.

Keith hadn’t forgotten about the way Lance went back to grab it in the middle of the ship being torn apart by a space monster, nor the way Lance had instructed him not to open it unless he was confirmed dead. He had been tempted to open it anyways, but the moment passed, and he was more concerned with getting him back to the shuttle alive. Still, whatever was in that bag plagued him.

“It’s his good luck charm,” Hunk said, when Keith finally caved and asked. Lance was negotiating transport on one of the ships taking off for Balmera, leaving Hunk Pidge and Keith in their “room” (aka the nice innkeeper’s basement) for the night. “It’s a toy he’s had since he was a kid.”

Keith raised an eyebrow, “Really?” Hunk nodded, “Why’s he so protective of it?”

Pidge shrugged, “My theory is it was a gift from his dad. But he won’t talk about it, and Hunk made me stop asking.”

Keith held back a snort. “What, and he just kept it? Like a teddy bear? Or a blankie?”

Pidge and Hunk weren’t amused. In fact their somber expressions made Keith feel bad for nearly laughing. “His dad was a cook in the Palace kitchens. He died during the invasion.” Pidge said. “I only knew that after I researched him when we met, like I said, he won’t talk.”

“He’s allowed his secrets,” Hunk said. He then turned to Keith, “There’s more to Lance than meets the eye.” He smiled with fondness for his friend.

Keith bit his lip. He supposed there had to be something for someone as sweet as Hunk or nice as Pidge to consider Lance a friend. “How did you all become friends?” Keith asked.

Pidge shrugged, “I met them because they were talking about ways to get into space, and get money, which I needed to find my family. I’m a tech wizard, so I could help them out, fair trade and all that, and we became friends just working together.” She nodded at Hunk, “When they found out my brother was missing Lance and Hunk kinda stepped into the role of big brother.”

Hunk smiled at him, then turned to Keith, “After the occupation started, Lance hung around with a lot of the nobility’s kids…or, he tried anyway. He kept shoving his toy in our faces asking us if we recognized it.” Hunk shook his head, smiling at the memory. “Most people, myself included, just kinda brushed him off, but a couple of kids tried to beat him up for messing with them. I stepped in, and I’ve been saving his hide ever since.”

Keith nodded slowly, absorbing the information. “So, you’ve seen this ‘good luck charm?’” He asked.

Hunk nodded, “He’s very protective of it, though. Eventually, he just…put it in the bag and wouldn’t let anyone see it.” He smirks at Keith, “It’s really not so strange, no stranger than carrying around a little lion figurine, is it?”

Pidge looked between them, confused as Keith smiled. Still, he didn’t have time to question as Lance came bursting in, carrying what seemed to be a hangar bag. “Alright, everyone, pack it all up, we can sleep on the ship, lets go.”

“You got us transport?” Pidge said, Rover springing to life and hovering as everyone grabbed their bags.

“Yep, on one of the fancy cruise ships.” Lance said, smiling.

His friends blinked in surprise. “And how did you manage that?”

Lance’s smile faltered. “Well…”

 

 

Lance didn’t know you could scrub floors angrily, but Pidge and Hunk managed to prove him wrong. He sighed. Not his fault Mr. Nobleman’s son and Commander’s child never had to do a day of real work in their lives. “You could have at least gotten us a job in the engine room,” Pidge said, “Hunk and I’d know what we were doing there, and my knees wouldn’t be so damn sore.”

Lance shrugged, “I don’t know anything about Engine rooms though. Besides those fancy jobs need credentials, what was I supposed to say? ‘Yes, my two friends are expert mechanics, oh, but don’t mind the giant ‘fugitive’ sign on their records.’ We’re outside Galra control, but this isn’t exactly a safe part of the galaxy.” He looked around, “Besides, isn’t the ballroom pretty?”

Pidge and Hunk sighed, knowing he was right, but still frustrated. “Where’s Keith?”

Lance nodded his head back to the storage area they used for a room. They had scavenged some blankets and laid them out over crates to use as beds. It wasn’t the most comfortable scenario, but it worked. “He’s trying on the outfit I bought him.” The scrubbing around him stopped. Lance looked up to see Pidge and Hunk staring at him agape. “What?”

Pidge pinched the bridge of their nose. “I’m confused. Do you guys hate each other right now, or are you flirting? Because the going back and forth is giving me a headache.”

“What?”

“I think it’s both, Pidge.” Hunk said, “like, competitive flirting.”

“ _WHAT_?”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Pidge washed her sponge and went back to scrubbing.

“It most certainly does NOT make sense!” Lance said, dropping his own sponge to the ground and crossing his arms. “Why do you guys always think I’m flirting? You’ve seen me flirting, this is not flirting.”

In sync, Pidge and Hunk rolled their eyes, but they let the subject drop. Somehow that made him angrier, and he scrubbed the ballroom floor with renewed passion. He knew he hadn’t convinced the two of them, but if they didn’t argue, he couldn’t refute them. Worse was the stupid blush that had crept onto his face he couldn’t explain.

He was so caught up in scrubbing, he didn’t hear the doors open, or notice the footsteps, until Pidge said, “Wow, Keith, you look great.”

Lance looked up. He didn’t know why he was surprised. He had picked out that outfit specifically for Keith, had imagined what it would look like, and knew it would make him look good. Still, imagining it and seeing it were two very different things.

Keith scratched the back of his head, not entirely comfortable in the Red tunic and black pants. He glowed a little, or maybe he had just taken advantage of one of the ships showers…or maybe it was just Lance. It took Lance a moment to realize he was speaking. “—nce? Is something wrong?”

Lance shook his head, standing up, his knees wet from cleaning the floor. “No, no, just…I really know how to pick an outfit.” He stepped closer, giving Keith the once over, and then a twice over, and then walking around him, pretending to see how the outfit looked. “You really do look like a Prince.”

“I _am_ a Prince,” Keith said, trying to sound indignant, but Lance couldn’t hear any malice in it.

Lance smirked, “Of course, your highness.” He gave a mocking curtsy, laughing a bit. Keith smiled too. Lance reached out and grabbed the ends of Keith’s long hair, “Now if you’d just let me trim this—“

“Don’t touch my hair.” Keith shook his head, the ends of the hair, tickling Lance’s palm before he pulled away.

Lance chuckled lightly again. “Alright, Alright. The princess will love the outfit. Now, why don’t you change back and you can help us out?” He said, motioning to the floors.

Keith raised an eyebrow, still smirking, “Aw, but Lance, I thought my job was just to be a little shit and look nice for the Princess.” He looked down at his outfit, “Seems to me I’m doing my job pretty well.”

 _No kidding_ , Lance thought. He was still thinking up a witty retort when Hunk cleared his throat. He looked back. He had forgotten Pidge and Hunk were still there. From Pidge’s wicked grin, they could tell. “Actually,” Hunk said, “This feels like the perfect opportunity for a Prince lesson.” He looked around the ballroom, “Now, Keith, as Prince you’ll be expected as Prince to attend a number of formal events, and at those events, you will need to know how to dance. Now, lets see, you’ll need a partner close to your own height…”

They all did the quick math in their head. Pidge was too short, Hunk too tall. Lance was closest, taller by only an inch or two, and he felt the blood rush to his face. Taking a calming breath, he controlled himself and glared at Hunk. He knew exactly what his friend was trying to do, and he still couldn’t argue against it.

Reluctantly, he offered Keith a hand. Keith took it and Lance lead them away from the scrubbing so they could dance without slipping. Hunk followed, but kept his distance, “Alright, since Lance IS slightly taller, Lance, put a hand on his waist, Keith, his shoulder. Now, I don’t have music, so you’ll have to count in your head. Listen, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3…” Hunk continued, and eventually, Lance stepped forward into Keith’s space. Keith’s eyes went wide as dinner plates. “Lance, you have to lead him. Keith, follow. 1, 2, 3…”

This time, Lance pushed a little on Keith’s waist as he stepped forward to the Hunk’s rhythm. Keith followed, and they took a moment, getting used to the steps as Lance lead them in a tiny circle. “This isn’t so bad,” Keith said, in a low voice.

Lance smirked, “I’ll take that as a compliment, your highness.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help smiling as well. “Take it however you want, Mr. McClain.”

Lance chuckled. “Oh please, Mr. McClain was my father. Just Lance will do fine.”

Keith’s smile faltered and he looked away. Lance’s brow pinched slightly, wondering if he had done something wrong. “Uh…Pidge and Hunk…told me about him.” Lance’s insides went cold. “I’m so sorry.”

_“As soon as it’s blocked, hide. Don’t try and fight them, just surrender and they won’t hurt you.”_

_Lance had nodded, and the tall man left. Lance closed the panel behind them, and pushed one of the tables in front of it to make it less noticeable. The pounding was still at the doors, and the hinges groaned with stress. They wouldn’t hold out much longer._

_Lance jumped for the fridge. He pulled out food from the bottom shelves, and only when a plate didn’t make the expected clatter on the ground he expected did he actually look. There lay his father, his eyes glassy and open, a blaster burn on his food-covered apron._

_Lance bit his lip and strained a sob. He was too scared to really cry, and the barriers the tall man had put by the doors were giving in. He jumped into the fridge and held his knees close. He heard when the doors gave way and footsteps of soldiers piled in. He dug his fingernails into his legs, begging himself to stay quiet as he shivered, cold and alone._

“Lance?” Lance broke out of his reverie to look down at Keith, who was looking at him concerned. Only then did he realize they had stopped dancing, and his eyes were filling up with water. Quickly, he blinked them back, and started stepping again, Keith following him. “Sorry,” Keith mumbled, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“’Sfine,” Lance said, “It happened a long time ago.”

Keith nodded, still looking concerned. “Lance,” He said again, kindly, and Lance wished he would always say his name like that, “What’s in the bag?”

Lance bit his lip, “Its something I need to return,” he said. “It belonged to a friend.”

Lance gave Keith a little twirl. Keith gasped in shock for a moment before landing back into Lance’s arms. “What happened? With your friend?”

Lance bit his lip. “I looked for him for a long time…he was rich, I thought he could help with my family…plus, I kinda failed him.”

Keith gave a small frown, “Failed? How?”

Lance shrugged, “I was supposed to protect him. I mean, I guess it wasn’t really my job, but…” He shook his head, “Anyway. It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s long gone.”

“Oh.” Keith swallowed, “I’m sure your friend would thank you, though. For returning his…whatever it is.”

Lance smiled at him, “You kinda remind me of him sometimes.”

Keith smirked, “What, did he bother you all the time to?”

Lance’s laugh died in his throat as he looked into Keith’s eyes. He really, really did look like the Prince sometimes, “You don’t bother me.” Keith blinked and he could see every eyelash, “Not all the time, anyway.”

Keith smiled. Only then did Lance notice they were practically chest-to-chest, still dancing, but the rhythm had slowed. He didn’t know where Hunk was, nor did he particularly care. Keith broke the eye contact, looking guilty, “I—I think I’m getting a bit light headed. 

Lance’s feet came to a stop, but he didn’t let go of Keith. “Me too. It’s…It’s probably from all the spinning.” Keith nodded, still looking down, “We…we should probably stop.”

Keith looked up once again into Lance’s eyes, and Lance’s world froze. “We have stopped,” He whispered.

Lance was leaning in, his eyes slowly closing. He watched Keith’s own eyelids flutter shut as he stood there, waiting.

BEEP BEEP BEEP Lance and Keith broke apart and turned to where Hunk and Pidge were watching, Rover beeping like crazy. Pidge hurriedly grabbed ahold of the robot and banged at it with his fist until it silenced. “Uhh…sorry. Proximity alarm. Someone’s probably coming to check on our work.

Lance grabbed at his elbow, his arms feeling empty without Keith in them. “R-right.” He said, “Back to work.”

“I’ll go change, so I can help,” Keith said, walking through the doors before Lance could say anything. He could have sworn his cheeks were as red as his tunic, but he wasn’t sure.

Hunk and Pidge were smiling at him as he watched the door for a few more seconds after Keith was gone, trying to get his heart rate under control. He glared at the two of them out of the corner of his eye. “Do you two just get some kind of perverse pleasure being right all the time?”

Hunk shrugged, at least having the decency to look guilty. Pidge unashamedly nodded.


	8. Never Should Have Let Them Dance part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haggar attempts a new strategy

“Have you had luck with the brat?” Sendak asked. He was finding himself spending more time than he liked with the witch.

“Patience” Haggar said, “Where brute force failed, subtlety will succeed.” She held something unlike any of her creatures before in her palms. Unlike the creepy rodents Sendak had usually seen, this was sparkling and beautiful. “How is the conquering of Balmera going?”

Sendak growled at her. “I will do my part, if you do yours.” He turned, ready to leave, but she called back to him, “Aren’t you curious to see the results?” She asked.

He turned back. In a circle she had formed with purple magic, he saw the image of a boy with black hair. “Is that him?” Haggar hummed an agreement. “He’s different than I imagined.”

“You alright Hunk?” the boy asked, leaning on what seemed to be a crate. Sendak watched as Haggar released the creature in her hand. It slithered out of her grip, and turned invisible on its way into the void.

 

Hunk was sitting on his crate, leaning forward so his head was between his knees. Groaning, he lifted a thumbs up to Keith.

“He’s always like this during space travel,” Pidge said, “I think it might have gotten worse from that crash landing, though. On the other hand,” Pidge jerked his head over to Lance’s sleeping form. “Put a pair of headphones on him and he’ll sleep through anything.”

Keith snorted, smirking as he watched Lance’s chest slowly rise and fall. He thought back to their dance. Maybe…just maybe Lance wasn’t so bad after all.

With a shake of his head he realized he’d been staring. He looked over to Pidge who was grinning at him. “What?”

Pidge shook his head, “Oh, nothing, nothing.”

Keith wanted to question further, but he was distracted by a nudging at his elbow. He jerked to find Rover hovering beside him. “Did you program him to do that?” Keith asked, frowning at the Galran…or, former Galran device.

Pidge shook her head, “Nope. I think he likes you.”

Keith smiled and patted the tip. It whirred happily, then took off to rest by Pidge’s head, its lights growing dim to save energy.

Pidge smiled, then rolled over to fall asleep. Keith gave Lance one last look, and then closed his eyes.

_“Kalor!” a young woman with silver hair and dark skin called, waving at him, “Come on, Kalor!”_

_He blinked at her. She held out her hand, and he reached for her. His hand was purple. “Who are you?” He called to her._

_She giggled, and waved her arm. “Come on!” She turned and skipped away down a meadow. He followed her, weaving his way down the path._

_He kept an eye on her hair, until she reached a man, a tall man with black hair in a uniform. They looked so familiar…”Come on, Kalor,” he called, “We’re all waiting for you.”_

_“Who’s waiting?” He asked, but they both just laughed, beckoning him forward. He jumped forward, trying to rush faster, but no matter how fast he ran, they were always ahead of him._

_The meadow was peaceful, the sunlight glimmering down on him. He could smell the sweet of the grass and the breeze lightly tickling his skin. Up ahead, he heard the man and the woman laughing. He smiled, the sound making him happy._

_The two led him to a group of people. There were two more men, and a woman, the men with dark skin and silver hair just like the first woman, and the woman with skin as purple as his own. “Come on,” The purple woman called to him “My son, come home.”_

Lance sat up suddenly. He rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out where he was and what his name was. Once he had that settled, he tried to figure out what had woken him. There was an incessant beeping noise coming from the side of his head. Had he set an alarm?

He looked down. Rover was nudging him. He must have knocked his headphones off. “Pidge, control your robot.” He said into the darkness. He heard only a groan of acknowledgement from one of the crates. He tried to lay back down, but Rover nudged at him again. “Piiiidge,” He whined, looking around and preparing to chew them out.

Wait. Something was wrong. One…two…one of the beds was empty. He quickly identified Hunk’s snoring, and then, after staring for a moment noticed the other was Pidge. “Where’s Keith?”

Pidge stirred just slightly in his sleep. Sleepily, he mumbled, “Keep it in your pants, Lance.”

Rover tried to beep and nudge at them next, but Pidge just rolled over onto her stomach and fell back asleep. Giving up, Rover returned to Lance, “Alright, alright,” He said, getting up and stretching his legs. “I’m gonna go check it out, I’ll be back.” Pidge mumbled something else incomprehensible, and Hunk snored.

_“Come home,” the purple woman called, “Kalor, come home.”_

_“Mom?” he asked, tears welling in his eyes._

_“Son,” the younger silver-haired man said, holding the purple woman’s shoulders, “Come with us, you belong with us.”_

_“Dad?” He stepped forward. All he knew was he had never wanted anything more than to step into their waiting arms._

_He kept walking, closer and closer, he reached out to hold his mother’s hand…but all he felt was cool glass. The large panel separated him from his family and he pressed himself against it, trying to get closer. “Mom!” He called._

_“Come to us,” The purple woman called, hand outstretched. He pressed his palm against the glass, trying to push through, “Come to us, my son.”_

Lance wandered the halls, still trying to wake up, but adrenaline kept him moving. He checked the nearest bathroom first, which was empty. The ship was huge, where could he have even gone. “Keith,” He called, trying not to wake any guests. Not that he thought his bosses would put him overboard, but he’d rather not risk upsetting them anyway. “Keith, come on, we gotta do more cleaning tomorrow.”

Rover was still beeping beside him. “Did you see which way he went?” Lance asked the little robot, but it didn’t respond. He had never really been comfortable having a Galran security drone around, but at the moment he couldn’t care. “Keith I swear, if you’re messing with me I’m gonna kill you.”

Suddenly, Rover started beeping incessantly again. “Shh!” Lance said, “Don’t wanna wake anybody up!” Rover kept beeping and zoomed down the hall. Hey, actually, there was a figure down there. “Keith?” Lance called, walking forward. Where in the ship were they? Lance picked up his pace. Was that…was that an airlock?

_“I’m trying,” he said, “I can’t get through! I can’t—“ He pounded on the glass. Something around him was beeping. He looked around. He couldn’t find the source, but he did see a button. A button that looked like it would open the glass…_

“Keith!” Lance called, running forward. Keith was right up against the airlock door, his eyes closed and his hand hovering open the release button, “Keith, DON’T!”

He pressed it.

_Behind him, an arm grabbed hold of him. He looked and saw a purple man, armored to the teeth with purple glowing eyes and a scar running down his face. “The symbol of peace, they call you.” The ground beneath his feet disappeared, the wind blowing out his legs from under him, but the man held him in a vice-like grip, “Soon peace will be forgotten, and every life form from every corner of the universe will once again fear the name Zarkon.”_

“KEITH!” Lance called, the air from within the ship blowing out into the void of space. He held onto Keith’s arms, his legs hooked around the other side of the door. “Stop struggling, man!” Keith’s eyes were still closed, and he thrashed as well as he could while dangling from Lance’s arms. “WAKE UP!”

_He struggled against the man’s grip, trying to free himself. The man, Zarkon, laughed at him, “You fight like a Galra soldier,” He cackled._

_He shook his head, trying to scream as Zarkon gathered him up into his arms. The wind stopped blowing and he fell to the ground, Zarkon still holding him._

Lance pulled Keith close, having managed to push the button to close the airlock again. “Keith,” Lance said. Keith was still thrashing, as Lance tried to shake him awake.

“Zarkon,” Keith muttered, panic in his voice, “Not a…I’m not a galra soldier…”

“Keith!” Lance called one more time. Keith jerked and his eyes flew open. He took a few shallow breaths, and Lance saw the moment Keith recognized him. “Hey,” Lance said, searching for some sign in his eyes of what the hell just happened.

“L-Lance?” Keith muttered. He looked down to see Lance holding onto his forearms. “What—where are we—what—“

“It was a dream,” Lance said. He let go of Keith’s forearms to hold onto his shoulders, “You were sleep walking.”

Keith shuddered, breathing slower, more carefully. Finally, he leaned forward, burying his face in Lance’s shoulders, “I saw…I saw faces, so many faces…I…I…”

“It’s okay,” Lance wrapped his arms around him, lightly stroking his back. He ignored the flutter in his heart as he held onto Keith, trying to get him to breath. He ignored the wet spot he could feel growing on his shirt where Keith had buried his eyes into. “It was a dream, it wasn’t real.”

Keith held onto him, as if he was the only thing left that was real in his life, and Lance held him back. Above them, Rover hovered lower, checking to see if they were alright.

 

“I know you’re begging to say it,” Haggar hissed through gritted teeth, “So get it over with. Mock my magic or whatever you feel you need to do.”

Sendak very much wanted to follow her advice as he watched the outline of the invisible serpent abandoning the ship. But unfortunately, he was a tactician first, and had to take advantage of opportunities “Focus on the image again,” He said.

Haggar, confused, waved her hand and magnified the image of the two boys and the robot. “Have you ever heard the human saying, ‘to kill two birds with one stone?’” Sendak asked her.

Haggar squinted at him. “No. What does it mean?”

It was finally Sendak’s turn to smile, “It means I know how to defeat the Balmera.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter today, but worry not, more is coming. And we'll finally get to the Balmera!


	9. Balmera holds the key part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family reunions! no, not that family reunion

_“SHIRO!”_

Shiro jerked awake in a cold sweat. He panted to catch his breath, grumbling at himself for letting this happen again.

Kalor hadn’t even shouted his name, that was something his mind had created after dreaming it over and over again.

“Shiro?” Beside him, Allura stirred. She blinked, trying to get her eyes adjusted.

“Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to wake you, go back to sleep.”

Allura, never one to listen to what he told her, sat up. She rubbed his back as he tried to turn away, hiding his distressed face. “It happened again?”

Shiro nodded. “I think its getting worse.” He took a deep sigh, running his metal hand through his hair.

Allura sighed, echoing his distress. “Shiro, I…I know we’ve talked about this before, and you’ve turned me down each time…” She paused, prepared for him to interrupt. He didn’t, “But…I think its time. It’s time to end the search.”

Shiro lifted his knees, resting his elbows on them, and his head in his hands. She watched him, trying to gain some kind of insight into what he was thinking. “Maybe you’re right.” She reaches an arm around his shoulders, knowing how much those words hurt to say, “It’s just…giving up confirms it…confirms he’s gone.”

“I know,” She said, “Believe me, I know. I miss him every day.” He nods, and she rests her head on his shoulder, “But it’s been 10 years. I have to think…by now he would’ve…he…” She wiped her eyes.

Shiro didn’t miss the motion and lifted his head, wrapping his human hand around her and pulling her into a hug. “Yeah,” He finished up, leaving the unsaid words abandoned.

She cried silently into his pajama shirt. She sniffed, trying to control herself. “We have the future to look forward to, though.” He nodded against her head, “We’ll get married, and we’ll defeat the rest of the Galran Empire.” He nodded again. “I’ll tell Coran tomorrow to announce the end of the reward. Maybe…” She trailed off, “Maybe we could donate the reward money…we could help evacuate other children off Earth, you know, in his honor.”

Shiro smiled softly, “That sounds wonderful.”

 

“Balmera!” Hunk said, as the four gathered around their window to look at the planet. They could only see a slice of it, most of the good viewing spots taken by actual passengers, but even that little slice was a sight to behold. “The safest place in the galaxy.”

“I just can’t wait til we get planetside,” Pidge said, “The planet might be safe, but from the rumors I’ve heard from the crew, there’s been a lot of Galra activity in the region.”

Lance may not have consciously stepped closer to Keith, but either way, there he was. Ever since he had found him hanging out an airlock he had been strangely protective. Or maybe it was ever since their dance, he was unsure himself. Either way, they had been getting along a lot…smoother.

Keith smirked at that, but then turned back to the planet. “How can the planet be safe but the region be dangerous?”

Lance leaned in and pointed down, “Look at the edge of the planet and squint. Do you see that little white shimmer there?” Lance immediately realized this position put his face practically against Keith’s, and listened to Keith’s breath hitch. “That’s advanced tech, it keeps the Galran out. It’s powered by the planet’s life force itself.”

Keith nodded, “The perfect place to keep the Princess safe.” He took a deep breath and crossed his arms. “Do you think she’ll like me?”

Lance turned to him. “Of course she will,” He said, “You’re her nephew.”

Keith shrugged, “It’s just. It’s all real. It’s weird to think, I’m used to…I’m used to things being too good to be true, for me at least.”

Lance reached a hand, letting it hover over Keith’s shoulder for a second. Finally, he gave him a simple comforting clap before letting the hand fall. “You’ll do fine.”

“Hunk, where’s my suitcase?” Pidge asked, looking at the luggage.

Hunk followed her gaze. “Is it not that one?”

“That’s Lance’s. C’mon, we have to get through security.” Pidge whined.

Hunk put up a hand in surrender, “Alright, alright, you guys go on ahead, I’ll go back to the room and grab it.” With that, Hunk backtracked and left.

Pidge sighed. “Well, we may as well try and get to the security line. It’s not the safest planet in the galaxy for no reason. Ugh, this is going to take FOREVER.”

It did indeed take forever. Or at least it felt that way to Lance. As they weren’t any of the fancy cruise passengers, they couldn’t buy their way to the front of the line, so they just sat in the back for what felt like days. Thankfully Lance had a pack of cards that they spent some time playing. When that grew boring, they tried to teach Rover to do tricks. When even that got boring, Keith took a nap on Lance’s shoulder. Lance put him on the suitcase with wheels so whenever they moved up in the line, Lance didn’t have to wake him.

It was only when they got to the front of the line that Lance realized they might have more problems getting through security than he thought, “Pidge,” he whispered, after Keith had started his way up through the scanner, “The nanites, he’ll look like a Galran.”

“Really?” Pidge said, “You’re only thinking about this NOW?”

“Pidge!” Lance said on the verge of panic.

“Relax,” Pidge said, holding up a remote. “I turned off the nanites. It’ll be fine.”

Lance frowned, “You can do that?” Pidge nodded, smugly.

A red light went on the second Keith stepped into the sensors. He immediately turned back to Lance. “Pidge?” Lance said, panic creeping into his voice.

“I—I don’t understand!” Pidge said, pressing buttons on their remote, “They should be off!”

A security guard was approaching Keith. He looked back and forth panicked. “Do something,” Lance whispered and walked up.

“Excuse me,” the security guard said, “you can’t enter this area.”

“That’s my friend,” Lance said, pointing to Keith, “Is there a problem?”

“Something came up on the scans, we just need a moment,” The guard said.

“Check. Again.” He demanded. He looked over to Keith’s panicked eyes, trying to look comforting.

The guards brought over a hand scanner, and scanned Keith up and down. The light shown green. They ushered Keith through, taking him to the end of security.

Lance was pretty sure he didn’t breath properly until all three of them had made it through, though there had been a small hiccup when Pidge had to prove Rover wasn’t a threat. “Lets find a place to wait for Hunk,” he said. They nodded. When Keith was just a bit ahead, Lance leaned over and whispered, “What did you do?” to Pidge.

“Reprogrammed the nanites to appear human.” Pidge said, shrugging, “I don’t know why they didn’t turn off.”

“I’m doubting your abilities here, Pidge.” Pidge glared at him, “Just, make sure to change them back to Galran hybrid.”

“Already done.”

 

“Wait!” Hunk said, lugging both his and Pidge’s suitcases to security. The line was short, as most of the passengers and crew had already made it to the surface, “Wait, don’t close the doors.”

A tiny, triangular robot came up and beeped at him. “Oh, hey Rover.” Hunk said, putting his suitcases up to be scanned, “Pidge send you to check up on me?”

“Is that a Galran security droid?” The guard asked.

“Oh, don’t worry, my friend reprogrammed him. See? Green, not purple.” No sooner had the guard scanned it, but the little droid raced off. “Don’t worry, probably just telling my friends where I am.” Hunk lifted his arms, ready to be scanned.

 

“THERE you are,” Pidge said. Hunk caught his breath, handing Pidge her suitcase.

“Sorry,” he said, after another second, he got up, “We should go meet up with Shay.”

“Who’s Shay?” Keith asked. “

His girrrlllfriend,” Pidge and Lance said in sync as they made their way down the streets.

Hunk went beet red. “She’s NOT my girlfriend.” He said, convincing no one. “She’s just a rock that I admire very much.” Lance and Pidge rolled their eyes. “Anyway, she works with the princess, she can get us a meeting.”

Keith got to see what and Lance and Pidge meant the second they reached the Altean embassy. “HUNK?!”

They all turned around to see a large rock woman rushing toward them. Hunk’s entire face lit up. “Shay!”

Shay encapsulated him in a hug. Keith and Lance exchanged looks, Keith silently laughing both at Hunk’s adorability, and that he even tried denying things. His smile fell a bit when he saw Pidge was making the same expression, just about him and Lance.

“Where have you BEEN?” Shay asked, finally releasing him, “I told Rax to tell Rolo to tell Nyma to send you a message, but she told him to tell Rax to tell me that you were nowhere to be found!”

“I’ve been traveling here,” he said, “not as directly as I had hoped, but we’re here.” Shay smiled at him, “What message were you trying to send me?”

“Well,” Shay said, “you told me to keep an eye out, and I found him!”

“Him?”

“Shay?” A man walked out into the hall, searching for the Balmeran. A man who looked so much like Pidge, that Keith had to do a double take. “Coran needs a headcount for—“

The man’s eyes fell on Pidge. His face froze, processing what he saw. Their face had an identical expression. “Mm—“ Pidge said, “Mm-Matt?”

“Katie?” Finally believing the image to be real, they each jerked forward, wrapping each other in a hug. Matt lifted Pidge off the ground, and the others hearts swelled as they watched the siblings cry.

“I can’t believe this!” Matt said, swinging her around.

“I thought I’d never see you again!” Pidge cried.

Finally Matt put him down , but couldn’t bear to let go. At the same time, they both asked, “Where’s Dad?” “Where’s Mom?”

Their faces fell as they realized the answer. “He—“ Matt said, “They put him in the fighting pits.”

Pidge nodded, knowing that was a possibility all along. “She was asking too many questions about where you two had gone.”

Matt flinched. “I sent a message through Shay looking for you.”

“I was on my way here,” Pidge said, “To get reward money to come find you.”

“Reward money?” Matt asked. “What reward?”

Pidge dried her eyes, remembering the rest of her group. Keith held his breath for just a moment. Pidge gave Lance a look that hid some meaning, before holding an arm out to Keith, “Presenting his highness, the lost Prince Kalor of Altea.”

Shay and Matt turned to Keith. He stiffened under their gaze. “The Prince?”

Lance put a hand on Keith’s back, and Keith felt confident again. Well, more confident. “That’s right, and we’ve come to return him to his family.”

Shay blinked for a moment, “Then, you hadn’t heard.”

Hunk and Lance frowned, “Heard what?”

Matt cleared his throat, “They canceled the reward.” Matt said, “They’ve stopped the search.” All four of their faces fell. Keith felt cold. “It’s…they’re getting married and donating the money.”

“They?” Hunk questioned.

Matt turned to him, “The Princess, and my old war buddy, Takashi Shirogane.” Matt looked at Lance, and Keith could have sworn he was silently judging him. “Shiro lead the charge that ended up saving me, and he got me a position here.”

“Shiro?” Keith asked. Matt’s suspicious gaze turned to him, and he felt cold. “As in, my old bodyguard?”

Matt bit his inner cheek, “Huh, you really know your stuff.”

“Matt,” Pidge said, holding his arm, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Pidge pulled Matt away, while Hunk pulled Shay in the opposite direction. The reality of the situation was sinking in. “They stopped the search,” Keith murmured, mostly to himself. Lance looked up at him, “They…they don’t want me…” He should have known. Things were always, ALWAYS too good to be true.

Lance immediately wrapped his arms around Keith’s shoulders, “No,” he said, “No, they’re just…sometimes a glimmer of hope hurts more than it helps.” Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist, trying to draw comfort from him. “We’ll figure something out, they’ll come around.”

“And…if they don’t?” Keith couldn’t help but ask. “You need the reward money, you and Hunk and—“

“Hey,” Lance said, squeezing him to help relax him, “We’ll figure something out. We’ll…I’m a resourceful guy.” Keith wasn’t crying, but he felt like he might. “We’ve gotten so far, Keith, we can do this too.”

Keith nodded, holding onto Lance still. A thought passed into his head, one that freaked him out. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad…if it all failed. He wouldn’t get the family, the royal title he’d been pursuing…but maybe he could just stay with Lance. This place was safe, and Lance was resourceful…maybe they’d be okay.

When they weren’t looking, the two other groups had converged and split again. Shay went to talk with Matt while Pidge and Hunk returned to Lance and Keith. Lance let Keith go. “What’d they say?” Lance asked them.

“Well,” Pidge said, “Matt’s convinced you three are lying to me in an effort to con the Princess out of her money.”

“Shay said the same thing,” Hunk said, “Well, she just thought it was you two.” Hunk said to Lance and Keith.

Keith frowned, “They think we’re conmen? Are you serious?” Lance, Pidge, and Hunk exchanged uncomfortable glances. “So, what do we do now?”

Hunk and Pidge looked back at Matt and Shay. Hesitantly, they came back to rejoin them. “We’ll get you in a meeting with Coran,” Matt said, “But that’s really all we can do.”

Pidge smiled and hugged Matt. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made the number of chapters unknown because Chapter lengths have a mind of their own, so might as well just go with the flow of things.
> 
> Also, if you're wondering how many times I've accidentally written 'Keith' instead of 'Kalor' the answer is every time.


	10. Balmera holds the key part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Truth revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these chapter summaries are just getting worse and worse. You've seen the movie, you know what's coming. mostly. 
> 
> Gather round children, it's angst time.

Coran was just as goofy and kind as Hunk had described. Lance was grateful as his storytelling seemed to be taking some of the edge off of Keith, letting him relax in the armchair. They did all have to politely refuse his offer of drinks, though, as Lance practically fainted after taking a sip.

“Now, Kalor,” Coran said, sitting down and preparing what must have been his ‘getting down to business’ face. Keith took a moment, but realizing he was being addressed, nodded. “You understand I’m going to have to ask you a few questions. 

Keith stiffened, but nodded. Coran squinted at him, trying to assess, but couldn’t help smiling and beginning his interrogation. Keith sat up straight, just as Hunk had taught him and was the picture of manners. He answered each of Coran’s questions succinctly and thoroughly, as if he had been a Prince all his life. Lance quickly tuned out most of the actual conversation, trusting Keith to say the right thing, and instead focused on just watching him.

It was hard to believe this was the same orphan kid they had picked up a few…huh, it was only a few days ago, really. And yet, even though he was different, he still had that fiery look behind his eyes. Lance stared at them. They were such an unusual color, almost purple. 

He caught Pidge staring at him, and glared, but Pidge only smiled, turning back to Rover. He ended up actually sitting beside Pidge, the both of them bored out of their minds. Hunk was totally on board with all the nobility talk, but it flew straight over Lance’s head.

About halfway through the questions, a servant came in to hand Coran a strange device. “Thank you,” Coran said, “Kalor, I’m sure you understand, we’re going to have to take a blood sample to confirm your story on Quirrik disease.” Keith nodded, holding out his arm.

“Uhh, sample?” Pidge asked, looking up, “not a scan?”

Coran turned as he took Keith’s arm and pressed the device to his skin. “We used to do scans, but unfortunately some people actually found a way to fake them. Most despicable.”

Pidge nodded nervously. Lance leaned down to whisper to her, “Will the nanites pass a sample test?”

“We’ll find out,” he whispered through gritted teeth, watching as Coran shook the small vial of Keith’s blood he’d extracted. 

The room was dead silent as they waited for the results. “Hmm,” Coran said, “Well, I don’t see any signs of Quirrik disease, but you certainly do seem to be a Galran/Altean hybrid.” Pidge and Lance let out a breath of relief. “Now, I have one last question: How did you escape the siege of Earth?”

Lance could have kicked himself. He should have known they would ask that, and he could have given Keith the answer! If only he wasn’t so goddamn touchy about the past, he wouldn’t have this problem. He bit his lip and prayed to god Keith would just be vague and Coran would accept it.

Keith’s eyes glazed over in thought, “I…I don’t remember much of it…” Yes, good, Lance thought, don’t try and elaborate. 

“I understand, it must have been very traumatic,” Coran said, “But any details you have could help.”

Keith nodded, and thought. “There was a boy…he pulled a…a tunnel out of a kitchen cabinet.” Lance froze in his chair. His brain short-circuited. He made it up in his head, he had to, because there was no way, 0% chance, absolutely no possibility that Keith had just said what Lance thought he’d just said. “I’m sorry…I must have gotten it all muddled in my head,” Keith continued, “Boys pulling tunnels out of cabinets. It sound ridiculous.”

He did say it, Lance finally realized. He actually said it, he meant it. He knew the answer. How could he have known the answer, unless…

Lance stared at him, and in his minds eye he saw the little boy he had played with so many years ago. The Prince, Kalor, who had looked so much like Keith, who acted so much like Keith, who disappeared right before Keith was taken to an orphanage having lost all his memories…It was too perfect. It was too…It was too much of a coincidence how could it be possible? But there was no other explanation.

Coran’s mustache twitched as he considered Keith…no, Kalor, the real Kalor. “I understand, don’t worry, dear boy. Though, I admit to being a bit disappointed.” Keith’s shoulders drooped, “I was rather hoping that through this exercise I could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you WEREN’T the prince Kalor…but it seems you’ve passed every test.” Keith didn’t seem to know how to take that comment, so gave him a confused smile. “The truth is, the Princess has firmly stated she won’t see anyone else claiming to be Kalor.”

“But he IS Kalor,” Hunk said, pleading.

Coran sipped his nunvil thinking. “Matt?” Matt Holt entered the room a little too quickly, leading them to think he was listening at the door. “Do we have a firm headcount for the Wedding Rehearsal tonight?”

“Yes, Coran,” Matt said, “We have—“

“Excellent,” Coran cut him off, “Add 4 more to the guest list.” Hunk, Pidge, and Keith brightened at that, “After all, you’ve come such a long way,” Coran said to them, “Perhaps you’ll even…’run in’ to the couple at the dinner.”

“Thank you,” Hunk said, “Thank you so much.” 

 

Shay was in a moment later and insisted to take them out to get fancier clothes for the dinner. Keith had insisted his tunic Lance had given him would do fine, but Shay wouldn’t have it, practically scooping him off. 

Once the three were alone, it seemed Hunk and Pidge could hold their enthusiasm in no longer. “We DID it!” Hunk said, “I can’t believe we ACTUALLY pulled this off! Keith was so good in there, I almost believed him.”

“That’s because…” Lance muttered, but Pidge talked over him.

“And it turns out my nanites did even BETTER than I expected. You know, sometimes, I am just so good, I surprise myself.”

“They didn’t,” Lance muttered again.

“Hey,” Hunk said, pulling him into a side hug, “Why do you look so glum, huh? This is your moment, this was YOUR plan! You did it!”

“I didn’t!” Lance said, sharper than he meant. Hunk and Pidge’s happy mood was cut off as they frowned at him in surprise. “I mean…it wasn’t me. Us. He really is Prince Kalor.” His voice trailed off, looking out into middle distance.

Hunk and Pidge seemed concerned, “Um, Lance,” Pidge said, “You’re uh, you’re not the kind of con man who’s fallen for his own con, are you?”

Lance sighed, “The boy Keith was talking about,” Lance said, “The boy who pulled a tunnel out of a kitchen cabinet. That was me.” Their confused silence turned to stunned silence. “I helped him escape, him and Shiro and Allura.” He opened his bag and pulled the toy out of it, the little Voltron figure he had kept safe except for the missing red arm. “This was his. He let me play with it. When he disappeared, I went looking for him.” He looked to Hunk, “That’s why I was shoving it in all your faces, I thought he would be mingled in with the rich kids, and he’d recognize the toy. But…when he didn’t…I just thought he was dead.”

“Lance…” Hunk whispered. Lance blinked, realizing tears were threatening to fall from his eyes. 

“So Keith…” Pidge murmured, “He’s really…whoa.” Pidge clutched their head. “Lance, you have to tell him.”

Lance shrugs, “He already believes he’s Kalor.”

“No!” Pidge said, “You have to tell him about YOU! Who you are.”

Lance shook his head. “No way.”

“But—“ Hunk tried to interrupt, but Lance spoke over him.

“We go about this as though nothing has changed. Keith will be returned to his family, and that’s it.”

“Oh yeah, god forbid he finds out,” Hunk said, frowning at him, “He might actually thank you for saving his life. He might actually LIKE you, and we can’t have that.”

Lance shook his head, “Look, Hunk…I’ve heard you’re ‘a title is just a title’ speech thing, but when it comes down to it…Prince’s and kitchen boys don’t mix.” 

“Well screw that,” Hunk said, getting oddly upset, “Look at Shiro and Allura, he was once just a bodyguard.”

“Shiro’s a war hero, Hunk.” Lance shrugged, “I’m nothing.”

Already wallowing in self-pity, he was not expecting Pidge to punch him in the stomach. “Pidge!” Hunk protested, but Pidge just grabbed ahold of Lance’s head by his ears and pulled him down to her level.

“You know,” Pidge said, scowling at him, “You have said some pretty fucking infuriating things over the years but that is possibly the most infuriating thing yet.” Lance tried to pull away, but Pidge held him still, nails digging into his ears, “How DARE you. How DARE you say you’re nothing. You were the one who found me, who was there with Hunk when my mother died and I was all alone. You reunited me with Matt. You, intentionally or not, got Keith back to his family. As much as it sometimes pains me to say it, you are a GOOD PERSON Lance McClain.” 

Lance smiled at her, his eyes still sad. “Thank you,” He said, unsure of how to take the compliment. He stood up. “Still, I’d prefer…I’d prefer if we just carried out the mission and moved on.” He turned his back to them, walking to the door.

“He loves you too, you know.” Hunk said to his retreating back. Lance paused for just a moment, then continued on. 

 

Hours later, Keith stood at the entrance to the ballroom. Shopping with Shay had taken longer than expected, so, he agreed to meet the rest of his group at the rehearsal dinner itself. 

Matt had apparently taken the other three out to get simple formal wear, but to meet the princess, Shay felt he needed to look ‘special.’ 

He had never been more nervous in his life. God, he wished Lance was here. It was ridiculous how much he’d come to depend on him over a short period of time, especially considering how much he hated him at first. Still, he couldn’t help think of that small feeling he’d had, when he considered giving this all up and just being comfortable with Lance. Being a Prince was terrifying, all he really wanted was a family. But Lance…

He was thinking in circles. He shook his head and tried to prepare mentally for what he was about to do. 

A hovercar pulled up and he smiled as Hunk and Pidge emerged, shortly followed by Lance. Keith inhaled, feeling the blood rush to his face as he saw Lance in a tux, combined with his own embarrassment about how much more confident he felt now that Lance was here. 

Lance was staring up at him, making him feel even more embarrassed. If Keith wasn’t mistaken, that look was pure awe…combined with sadness. He wasn’t totally sure where the second part was coming from, but he smiled at him. “What do you think?” He asked, gesturing his new outfit.

Lance blinked, clearing his head. “Not bad.” He said. He offered his arm, and Keith took it, allowing himself to be escorted inside.

They were taken to a table and seated with Matt and Shay. Coran gave them a wink as he passed by, and then went off to sit at a table at the end of the hall. Keith held his breath. Sitting at that table was a dark skinned woman with silver hair and pointed ears wearing a crown. Beside her was a human man with a scar across his face and a tuft of white hair. “It’s them,” He whispered to Lance.

Lance looked over, but then smiled at Keith, “You’ll do fine, don’t worry.”

Keith nodded, but still felt too nervous to eat. He tried, he really did, but his gaze kept flickering back to the Princess and her fiancé. “Please remember me,” He said under his breath. Or, at least he thought he did. Lance patted his arm comfortingly. 

After what felt like an eternity, music had started, and dancing had begun. Hunk asked Shay to dance, while Matt asked Pidge. Their table was left empty except for Lance and Keith. Keith picked at his food half-heartedly, his mind going back to his dance training with Lance. Should he ask him to dance now? Would Lance ask him? This was too much on top of his already frayed nerves.

Lance looked like he was about to say something, when they were both saved by Coran. “Come on, then,” He said. Keith took what must have been his hundredth deep breath that night and got up, Lance following him. 

“Let me talk to them first,” Lance said. He fiddled with his bag, which Keith frowned at. He wondered what he was doing with it here? “I’ll introduce you.”

Keith nodded.

They followed Coran to a side room. “I’ve got them reviewing some last minute wedding decisions in there,” Coran whispered to Lance and Keith, “I’ll go in, and Mr. McClain, after a minute, you come in after me. Got it?” They both nodded and he went in, closing the door behind him. 

“Guess its time,” Lance said, hands in his pockets. 

They both laughed and gave a little shrug. “Lance, I—“

“Yes?” Lance asked, just slightly too eagerly.

Keith swallowed, trying to will himself to speak, “I wanted to…thank you, I guess. For all you’ve done for me.”

Lance smiled, but Keith saw the sadness return to his eyes. “You’re welcome.” They were quiet another few seconds. “Keith, I…” He trailed off, looking down, nervous.

“Yes?” Keith asked, his heart beating fast. 

“I…um, I—“ He ran a hand through his hair. 

“Yes?” Keith repeated, stepping closer.

“I just wanted to say, um…” Lance swallowed, and Keith could practically see the resolve melting off his face, “You actually make the mullet work…in-in that outfit.”

Keith awkwardly tucked his hair behind his ear. “Thank you.

Lance gave him a nervous smile, but decided it was time, “Well, here goes,” and opened the door and walked in…he didn’t manage to close the door all the way, though. Keith crept up to it, peaking through the small crack.

“Oh, your highness,” came Coran’s outrageous accent, “I wanted to introduce you to a newcomer to Balmera, Mr. McClain,” 

He saw Lance bow, and he smiled, “Your highness,” Lance said, “I’ve come here to reunite your family. You see I have found your nephew the prince—“

“Oh, Coran, you didn’t.” A female voice came from the room. Keith bit his lip. She sounded angry. “I TOLD you, Coran, I didn’t want any more of…of this.”

“Uh…” Coran said awkwardly, “I didn’t…I mean…I just…”

“Please, don’t blame Coran,” Lance said, “I know how hard it must be to hold onto hope, but you have to believe me, he really is—“

“Get out,” A male voice that was neither Lance’s nor Coran’s. Keith winced. “We have seen enough Prince Kalor’s to last us a lifetime.”

“This was supposed to be a happy day,” The woman said, “And I will NOT have it marred by yet another con artist who’s groomed up someone that vaguely looks like my nephew to parade him in front of me to get my money!” 

“Please, your highness—“

“Let me guess,” The other man said, “This Kalor that you’ve brought us has Quirrik disease so he can’t transform and prove who he really is.” Keith’s blood ran cold, “No doubt you’ve injected him with something that can fool blood tests or else you wouldn’t have even gotten this far.” 

Keith instantly remembered that night, it felt like so long ago, when he had met Lance. Pidge had injected him with something, said it was to test him. Why would he need to inject something in him to test it? Why hadn’t Keith thought of that before?! “No, that’s not—“ Lance said, stumbling over his words, “I know how this seems, but it’s the truth, you have to believe me!”

“Wait a minute…McClain…” Shiro said, “I’ve heard that name before. Did you really think you were the only one who heard rumors? I’ve had my ear to the ground for any sign of Kalor on Earth, and I’ve heard of you. Holding auditions in the very palace Kalor once lived in…what depths would you sink to?”

Keith put a hand over his mouth. It all lined up too well. It couldn’t be…It wasn’t possible…but they were saying it was. “Look, I have proof,” Lance said, desperate, “if you’d just talk to him—“

Keith watched Lance open his bag and reach into it. He saw a bare glimpse of something blue and plastic when a dark feminine hand came into view, lifting Lance off his feet. “Leave us in peace,” the woman said, and threw him out of the door. Keith had just enough time to step back before Lance landed in front of him in a heap. The door closed behind him. 

Lance jumped to his feet, angry, and ready to storm back in, but he first caught Keith’s face. They stared at each other, and Keith still couldn’t believe.

Lance broke the spell first, “Keith—“

“It was a lie,” Keith muttered, finally accepting it himself. “All of it, it was all a lie.”

Lance gaped for a moment, “I—no, I—“

“You USED me?” Keith said, his heart shattering into pieces, “It was all one big con? You, Hunk, Pidge…ALL of it?” 

He didn’t realize how much he wanted Lance to deny it. But the look in his eyes, the defeat, was all Keith needed. Blood boiling he turned away, ready to storm off, but Lance followed him, “Keith, wait, look, it may have started out a con, but it turned out okay, listen to me, you really ARE the prince—“

“Stop!” Keith said, “Stop LYING! I can’t take it anymore. I—I actually believed you, and I---UGH!” He pounded his fists against his head, “I KNEW this was too good to be true and I fell for---I fell for it anyway.” They walked into the ballroom, Keith looking for the exit. He barely registered Hunk and Pidge had stopped dancing to watch them.

“Keith, wait,” Lance said, trying to stop him from walking away, “Don’t you remember, the little boy in the kitchen…don’t you remember the punch bowl and the kitchen tunnel? Don’t you see that was—“

Keith punched him square in the nose, sending him to the floor. The music screeched to a halt and everyone in the dance hall watched the scene unfolding in rapture. “Don’t,” He said, tears threatening to spill over, “Don’t you dare ever talk to me again.” 

He stepped over Lance and rushed out of the ballroom and into the streets, ignoring Lance’s calls of “Keith, wait!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of songs to use as chapter titles.


	11. Once upon a Balmera Reprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more reunions...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be honest I just put the ellipse in the chapter summary so it'd tell me I had 1234 characters left.

Lance paced back and forth down at the street where he had lost sight of Keith, trapped by his own indecision. It wasn’t long before Hunk and Pidge followed him out, approaching him like a wild animal. Shay and Matt followed them, even more cautious. Pidge cleared their throat, “I—I take it the meeting didn’t go well.”

“He found out,” Lance said, not looking at them but sill pacing. He couldn’t walk to keep up with his brain that was working a million miles an hour. It would be so much easier to come up with a plan if Keith’s betrayed face didn’t keep popping up in his brain.

“About the con?” Hunk asked, distressed, “Oh geez. That couldn’t have been worse timing. 

“Con?” Matt asked, looking down at Pidge, as if only really seeing him for the first time, “You mean…you actually…”

Pidge winced at her brother’s face. “Matt, if you think there is anything I wouldn’t have done to get you back…” they trailed off shaking his head.

“Hunk…” Shay muttered, using the same betrayed voice Keith had used minutes earlier.

Hunk sighed, “Shay…if things were reversed…if Balmera was the one under Galra control…” he swallowed, “If it was your family down there…”

Lance bumped into him as he continued pacing, “None of that even MATTERS anymore, because we accidentally found the real prince.” He scratched the back of his head, trying to force some way to get the three of them in the same room when they all hated him.

“Matt,” Pidge said, “Couldn’t you talk to Shiro? You said he’s your friend.” Matt was looking between Pidge and Lance, unsure of what to do, or who he could trust.

“Maybe we should go talk to Keith,” Hunk suggested, five plans behind Lance, “We should apologize to him.”

“Who’s Keith?” Shay asked, confused.

“Kalor,” Hunk corrected himself, “Kalor lost his memories and has been going by Keih, not even he knows he’s the prince.”

“Wait,” Pidge said, “Keith really is the Prince, right? So if we triggered a transformation, he’d have to believe us. And then we don’t even need him to talk to the Princess, she just has to see him…and…” he trailed off, “of course, I have no idea how to trigger Altean shape shifting.”

“Well, we have to do something fast!” Hunk said, “If Keith…Kalor…whatever, if he runs off we won’t find him again,” 

“Alright, so maybe that should be our priority,” Pidge said, “if we can just find him, we’ll figure the rest out later. Where could he have gone?”

“Uh,” Hunk said, thinking, “maybe the hotel? I checked us in…but he was out shopping then. Still, he should know where it is, it’s a place to start.”

“Alright,” Pidge said, “We’ll do that. Lance?” Pidge turned to where Lance was pacing. Or, at least, to where Lance HAD been pacing. At the moment there was no sign of him. “Lance?” Pidge asked again, looking around helpless, as though Lance would just pop out at them. But there was no sign of him.

 

Lance had been distracted from his friend’s conversation as he saw the Princess and her future husband leaving their dinner, still looking upset. Coran was following them, stuttering apologies as he made his way to their hover car. He opened the door, letting them in, and running around to the driver’s side. Lance ran forward, “Sorry Coran,” he said, pushing him back and jumping into the driver’s seat.

“Hey!” He heard Coran’s accent from outside the car, but didn’t hesitate as he revved it up and drove off at top speed. 

“Coran!” Allura protested immediately as Lance tore down the roads of Balmera, “slow down!”

“I’m not Coran,” Lance said, continuing to drive towards the hotel as fast as he could. 

Before he could get very far, he felt a glowing purple hand wrap around his throat. “Pull over,” Shiro demanded, “Now.” The hand was warm, an unsaid threat that it would heat up enough to melt his skin if Lance didn’t comply.

Lance slowed the car down, pulling to the side, “I’m not here to hurt you,” He said. When the car stopped, he pulled his bag off his shoulder and threw it into the back before putting his hands up in surrender. “If you don’t like what you find in there, you can get out, and I won’t bother you ever again. If you’re interested, though, you’ll let me keep driving.”

There was a pause, but Lance heard one of them open the bag and pull out plastic. He had to assume it was Allura as Shiro’s hand hadn’t retracted. “Where did you get this?” She demanded in a harsh whisper.

Lance took his hands out from behind his head and put it on the steering wheel, waiting. Slowly, Shiro took his hand off of Lance’s neck, and Lance started driving again. “To be completely honest,” Lance said, “I found it. I came here to use it as proof that Keith, the man I brought with me, is Kalor. But you’ve seen through that already.” He swallowed, “I’m not going to lie anymore, I DID come here to con you. I have my reasons, but that’s no excuse. But Keith…he knows things only Kalor would know. It wasn’t until today I realized it WAS him.”

“Who ARE you?” Shiro demanded.

Lance swallowed. “My name is Lance McClain. I used to work at the palace.”

“Lance…” Shiro muttered as Lance pulled up to the hotel. “It was you…the serving boy…”

Lance turned around to see their astonished faces. “I know that hoping can be painful…But he’s been hurting just as much as you. Please do just this one favor for me and talk to him.”

 

Keith groaned in frustration as he went through Hunk’s suitcase. He had 2 outfits, beyond the one he was wearing, and that was the extent of his possessions, why were they so hard to find? 

He had been avoiding Lance’s luggage, but there was no other answer. He had thought for approximately 2 seconds about respecting their privacy before he started his search, but dismissed that in anger. 

He wanted to just grab his things and get out of there before Lance and the others came back, and then…and then he had no idea where he was going to go. But hey, Balmera was a big planet, there had to be someone willing to take him in. 

As he rummaged through Lance’s clothes (god, why did he have so many clothes) something fell out of his pocket. He looked down. It was his lion figurine. 

He leaned back to sit cross-legged, staring into the eyes of the lion. He thought back to all the times he had felt like he was meant for something more, that there were some answers to his life awaiting him…all because of this stupid little lion. He tossed it to the opposite end of the room right as the door was opening. 

He turned his back, “Fuck off, Lance,” He said, grabbing one of Lance’s outfits. If Lance didn’t want him to steal his clothes he shouldn’t have lied to him about his identity. Some part of him knew that didn’t make sense but he was angry and didn’t care.

“Pardon?” A feminine and very much not-Lance voice said. 

Keith turned seeing the Princess Allura in his doorway, looking straight at him. Shiro was standing just behind her. Panicked he stood up as fast as he could, trying and failing to look dignified, “I’m…I’m sorry, I thought you were—“

“I understand,” Allura said. “I’ve actually just spoken with your compatriot. He’s a very interesting person.”

Keith hung his head, her words like a sharp jab at his heart. “Then…I must apologize to you, your majesty…your highness…I—I’m sorry.” He clutched his head, all his prince lessons slipping out of his head. Good, he’d rather forget. “He’s duped us both.”

Shiro looked him up and down. Keith was reminded of when he met Lance, feeling once again like a prize pig. “If you’re not the Prince…why did you come to Balmera.”

Keith swallowed. Something about the man intimidated him. “I just…I came to find my family,” He said. “I lost them when I was young, and…I thought…I thought for a second I was a part of your family,” He turned to Allura. “Silly, I know.” 

Allura sat down. “Tell me a bit about yourself, ah,” She swallowed, “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Keith,” he told her, unsure if he was supposed to sit too. Shiro wasn’t, so he stood. “I…I’m an orphan. I lost my family in the siege of Earth.”

Allura nodded, listening, “Me too.” He felt guilty, but he wasn’t sure why. “What were they like?”

“I don’t remember.” Keith said, “But I…I like to think they were kind.”

Allura smiled at that. The room was silent for a moment, no one knowing what to say. Shiro finally cleared his throat, “Maybe we should leave,” He said to Allura.

“What, are you scared?” Keith said before he could stop himself. He clapped a hand over his mouth, staring at Shiro in horror. “I’m—I’m sorry, it just slipped out…I—“

After blinking in surprise, Shiro said, “It—It’s alright,” Shiro said, “I’ve, uh, I’ve been told I’m easy to mess with.”

Shiro and Allura exchanged a meaningful glance. “Keith,” Allura said, “Do you…do you mind if I show you something?” She took out her purse and opened it. She pulled out a small plastic robot with an arm missing.

“Voltron!” Keith said, enraptured with it. She held it out and he gladly took it, looking at it. Across the back was written the words ‘Champion of the—‘ before it was cut off. He flipped it over in his hands, “An exact duplicate of the robot used to defend Balmera during the first Galra war…I got it from…from my aunt…she was leaving for Balmera…”

He blinked, looking up at Allura. She was covering her mouth with her hands, staring at him in surprise. He bit his lip, and went over to crawl on the floor, looking for where he had tossed his red lion figurine. Picking it up, he brought it back to the two of them and started twisting the legs and the tail. Without really thinking of it, as if he had always known how, he attached the lion to the arm socket, completing the robot.

Shiro gasped, clutching Allura’s shoulder. Keith looked up at them. They looked strange…brighter, somehow, and were stating at him in complete shock. He looked back at the robot…but what caught his eye was the hand—his own hand—holding it. It was purple. Just as it had been when he was a child. He stared at it, mesmerized, rolling his sleeve up to see more purple. 

He felt his ears, fluffy and large, and his teeth that were sharp. He looked to Allura and Shiro again. Allura was crying, staring at him. He always hated when she cried, she was always so nice to him…he’d always try to cheer her up. “Aunt…” he muttered…”Aunt Allura?”

Allura surged forward, arms open and encapsulated him in a hug. “There’s my favorite Galran,” She whispered between sobs, “Here you are, you’re really here!” 

Keith was crying too, and he looked up at Shiro. Shiro knelt down, slower, his eyes watering as well as he lifted a shaky hand to clasp Keith’s shoulder, “It’s good to have you back,” He said, the tears falling.

Keith swallowed, “It’s good to be back,” He said, his voice shaking. Shiro wrapped a metal arm around Allura and a human one around Keith, squeezing them both tightly as they cried for joy.

 

“How much longer?” Haggar demanded. It was clear she was not pleased with not being in control for once. Good, Sendak thought, get used to it.

“We should have the shield down in a matter of days,” Sendak said, “And then our armies will be ready to invade.”

“Remember, Sendak,” Haggar said, “I need to be the one to take down the boy. You just need to keep everyone around him distracted.”

“I’ll cover you, don’t worry.” Sendak said, “We will take out the remaining Alteans and take back the universe within a day.”

“We will have much more than that.” Haggar said, smiling.

“More? Than the universe?” Sendak said confused. She glared at him. “Ah…” His eyes drifted to the medical pod, “I see what you mean.”

“Good.” Haggar said, “For a moment, it sounded like you were going to say something treasonous.”

“I am Commander of the Galran Forces,” Sendak growled at her, “I cannot BE treasonous. Besides…” Sendak eyed the pod once again, “If it does work, you’re very sure he’ll side with you.”

“Of course I am.” Haggar grinned, “But don’t worry, Sendak, as long as you obey your duty to your king, you won’t have a problem.”

He didn’t like the way she cackled at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so, the rest of this is probably going to uh, diverge from the movie a bit more and kinda be my own thing. Kinda. Ish. IDK, man.


	12. There aren't anymore songs GADDAMMIT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance's internal monologue is me

A few days later, Allura, dressed all in white, stood up from her seat and rose a glass, silencing the crowd of people sitting at tables in the ballroom. “I just wanted to apologize and thank all of our guests here today who forgave us for pushing the wedding back a few days.” There were smiles throughout the room, “But as many of you have heard, and all of you have seen, we had good reason.” 

She put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “My nephew has finally returned to us, and once again, I have a family.” She put her other hand on Shiro’s shoulder, “More family. I hope that this can be the start of a new era for all the free people in the universe. Once, a long time ago, my nephew was considered the symbol of peace. I like to think that, as he has returned, peace will return as well.”

Keith blushed slightly, but it was thankfully difficult to tell with his current skin complexion. Alura raised her glass, “To family, and peace,” She said. 

The hall echoed her, and drank their glasses. Soon after Allura had to go and schmooze her guests who all wanted to talk to the princess. She gave him another squeeze on the shoulder before she went out, as if reminding herself that he was real.

Technically speaking Shiro was supposed to go out and schmooze the guests too, but he instead sat back, scooting his chair next to Keith. “Is it strange, being a prince again?”

“You know,” Keith said, “The prince part isn’t actually too bad yet. But I had forgotten what it was like being purple.” His eyes swept the room. It was like a game, seeing how many people he could catch staring at him in one sweep. Most of them immediately broke eye contact and looked away, causing a wave of turning heads throughout the ballroom. 

Shiro chuckled. “You were never exactly used to it as a kid either. Just don’t go punching people.”

Keith snorted, “No promises.” Shiro chuckled again. “You know, you’re a prince too, now.”

Shiro sighed, “That IS weird. Who could have guessed that 10 years ago?”

“I did,” Keith said. Shiro raised an eyebrow at him, “You kept staring at her. It was kinda obvious.” Allura, a few tables over, gave a high pitched laugh that caught their attention. She then turned to Shiro and Keith, eyes wide and begging for help, “I think your wife wants you over there.”

Shiro smirked at the word ‘wife.’ “I suppose so. You want to come?”

Keith laughed, “And talk to the snooty rich people? I’m good, thanks.”

“You’re a snooty rich person,” Shiro told him, getting up.

“Which is why I can send other people to go do the things I don’t want to,” Keith said, grinning. “Now, go on. Chop, chop, bodyguard.”

Shiro grumbled, “to believe I actually missed you,” he said, off to join Allura. 

Keith chuckled, taking more of his drink, and giving the hall a sweeping look once again. There were two people that made eye contact and, instead of turning away like everyone else, waved at him. He waved back to Pidge and Hunk, who were sitting with Matt and Shay. 

Lance was nowhere to be found. In fact, Keith hadn’t seen him at all since he’d punched him at the rehearsal dinner. Hunk assured him he was okay, and he was very, very sorry. But he hadn’t come to apologize like Pidge and Hunk had.

Keith had still wanted to be mad at them for lying. But when the two of them came to him after reuniting with his family, he had been so happy he had forgiven them. It helped that Pidge and Hunk were practically in tears as they apologized. He didn’t know if he forgave Lance yet. For some reason, despite it being the same crime, he was more mad at him. And yet…he still wanted to see him. It was so contradictory, Keith didn’t know what to make of his own emotions, but it somehow made him even MORE mad at Lance. 

He got up and decided to wander around the hall, taking his game of ‘make the guests uncomfortable to be around a galra’ mobile. Several people nodded and bowed their heads to him. He leisurely made his way to his friend’s table…except by the time he got there his friends were gone, leaving Matt and Shay chatting amicably. Matt looked up, “Your highness,” he said, ready to stand, but Keith put up a hand.

“Please, don’t worry about it. Where did Pidge and Hunk go?” 

Matt and Shay exchanged an uncomfortable glance, “Well, uh,” Shay said, “They stepped out into the hall for just a moment, to deal with some…business.”

Well, that was cryptic. Keith, trying to still be his polite prince self, nodded and thanked them, before heading out to the doors to the hall. 

“You can’t!” He heard Pidge whine from around the corner, “You just…you can’t!”

“C’mon, Kiddo,” The voice made Keith freeze before he turned the corner that would let him see them. Lance… “You’ll see me again! I almost thought you’d be begging me to get out of your hair.”

“Lance,” Hunk was saying, and Keith heard tears in his voice, “Why don’t you just talk to him. You know he—“

“Hunk…just drop it.” He didn’t want to talk to him, Keith thought. It made his heart turn cold. “I’m gonna miss you guys.”

He heard the sound of hugging and couldn’t help but just peak around the corner. Pidge and Hunk were clutching to Lance like a lifeline. Even Rover was nudging his head, friendly. Lance was smiling at them, but he looked sad as he turned up to see Keith. Keith’s eyes widened as he saw he’d been recognized, but he couldn’t look away.

Pidge and Hunk detached from him, confused when they noticed him distracted, but when they saw what he was looking at immediately became flustered. “Hey, uh, Hunk, we have that thing…that thing to go to.”

“Right! The thing!” Hunk said, and ushered them off into the ballroom, Rover floating behind them, and leaving the two of them in the hallway. 

Keith stepped out of his hiding place, clutching his hands as he and Lance stared at one another, unsure of what else to do.

Lance, as before, was the first to break the tension, “You know, the fluffy ears actually helps to pull off the whole mullet look,” He said.

Keith laughed through his nose, still anxious, but considerably not as mad as he felt he ought to be. Finally, he said the thought that was echoing in his mind, “You’re leaving?”

Lance swallowed, “Yeah, well, business is done here, right?”

Keith stepped forward. “But…isn’t your family coming here?”

Lance nodded, “That’s actually why I’m leaving right now. I’m going to intercept them so I can see them before I take off.”

Another step. “Where will you go?”

Lance shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets, “Actually, I…I’m going off to join the military.” Keith’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I’m gonna go fight for Earth. You know, being here reminded me how much I really miss home. My old home.”

Another step. “That’s…very noble of you.”

Lance smirked, “Well, I’m a noble kind of guy.” 

Another step. Keith was now directly in front of Lance. He could reach out and touch him, if he wanted. “Well…good luck,” was all he could think to say. 

Lance nodded his head, “And to you, Prince Kalor.”

“Keith,” Keith corrected. “I’ve…I’ve been Keith longer than I’ve been Kalor, so…I’m sticking with the name.”

Lance smiled at him, full of all the happiness and sadness he’d come to associate with Lance. “Keith,” he said, and it made Keith’s heart swell up. “Well then, goodbye.”

He turned, almost all the way through the door, when Keith couldn’t stop himself. “You could stay.” Lance froze, still turned away, “I mean…you could stay…here…with…” He tried desperately to just get that last word out, that last ‘me,’ but he didn’t.

Lance turned to him, still smiling sadly. He bowed low at the waist, and said “Your highness.” All traces of sarcasm and mockery were gone, and his sincerity was like a wall that had been put up between them. 

Then he turned around and walked out of the ballroom and Keith’s life.

 

What the hell are you doing? Lance thought at himself as he lugged his suitcase down through security to board his transport, Get back in there and sweep him off his damn feet!

He’s a prince, he thought back at himself. And Lance had lied. A lot. Keith was right, he’d used him. Even if it had turned out okay, that didn’t mean that he hadn’t used him for his own reasons. Even if Keith had forgiven him…or would forgive him…he hadn’t really forgiven him back there. Then again, Lance hadn’t really apologized.

He stopped in the security line, “Hey, move it or lose it, asshole,” The man behind him said, but he was barely listening. He hadn’t apologized. Keith…he deserved that at least that.

Grabbing his bags he stepped out of line. The man behind him didn’t hesitate to step into his place. He walked out of the transport area and down to the street. He should probably come clean to Keith about everything, you know, while he was at it. The thought terrified him, but still, he picked up his pace. 

Sure, Keith could yell at him, reject him, but what did he have to lose at this point? I mean, what’s the worst that could happen, he’d have to leave Balmera forever? He was already doing that.

Meanwhile, if he didn’t reject him…if there was some chance, however small that he felt the same way, that he could actually like Lance…the thought made him break into a run. He would storm the wedding and freaking carry Keith off, if it came to that. He smiled, his bags dragging behind him as various images of him coming up to confess to Keith ran through his head.

The thoughts did eventually slow down as he had to stop running. Damn, why was the freaking wedding so goddamn far from the transports? He stopped to catch his breath. Oh, look, he couldn’t be too far away by now, there was Rover.

Wait a tick…He was blocks away from the wedding. What was Rover doing here? He was usually with Pidge, and if he wasn’t, then he was with Hunk or Lance. Where were they?

He very, very, VERY much wanted to ignore this discrepancy and continue on to find Keith, but…oh, he had to find out where that little robot was going. 

Trailing after the green Galran security droid lead him down underground. He had to hide from some Balmeran’s that were walking past, but he hadn’t spent years as a fugitive on Earth to be caught here. 

Here he could see the Balmeran crystals that the planet was famous for. There were more and more as he walked on. This must be where they grew them, the really big ones. 

The robot made its way through a pair of doors, and Lance just barely made it inside before the doors closed. “Whoa,” He muttered to himself. Inside was the largest Balmera crystal he had ever seen, still embedded in the ground, but also wired in to some kind of giant electrical device. 

All the labels in the room were in Altean and Balmeran, and he cursed himself for not learning to read it. Slowly, he walked around the crystal, wondering at its purpose. It hit him like a ton of bricks when he saw the device’s large wires leading out of the room, up to the sky above. This is where the Balmeran shield was generated.

 

“We’ve found it!” Haxus shouted from the controls to the fake security droid.

“Good,” Sendak said, “Destroy it. All ships, prepare to descend on the Balmera.”

 

Lance was so distracted looking up at the crystal, it took a moment for him to realize that Rover…no, not Rover, a fake, had flown up to sit directly next to the crystal. He knew it couldn’t be Rover now, because it had turned from green to red. 

Panic washed through him and he ran for the door, but it was too late.

Behind him, the crystal exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter but things are getting kinda heated so, uh...IDK its early in the day I may end up writing some more. We'll see.


	13. Rebirth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I can't steal anymore damn song titles I'll just use Voltron episode titles HA

Keith sulked. He knew he was sulking, and he knew it was intimidating the guests and confusing his friends. Allura asked him to dance. “Kal—Keith? What’s troubling you?”

Allura had to lead the dance, as Keith had never learned that part. “I just…” He said, “I’m confused about a lot of things.” 

She chuckled, “I can tell.” He raised an eyebrow at her, “Your ears always twitch just…yes, like that, when you’re confused.”

Unconsciously, he lifted a hand to his ears, “it’s just…I feel…there’s this person, and I should be mad at him, and…and I should hate him…but…I also miss him.” He swallowed, feeling weird about saying that out loud. 

Allura smiled, “Oh my, does my little nephew have a crush?” He frowned, in confusion, ignoring his blush in his cheeks, “Oooh, you DO! Who is it? That Lance fellow?” His blush deepened further, “I knew it, oh how romantic, after all the years you found each other again.”

Keith frowned at her, “Years?” He asked, “What are you talking about?”

Allura blinked at him, “Well, after he rescued us, of course. And then he was the one to find you, even if his intentions were less than pure.”

“Wait…what?” Keith said, “What do you mean he…” His voice trailed off as a new memory popped up…a memory of fruit punch and playing with toys…and a kitchen boy, “Lance is…THAT Lance?” Keith thought. Allura nodded as though he was saying something obvious. “I—“ He tried to process that. Why didn’t Lance tell him? Should that affect anything? He…he needed to talk to Lance. 

“Keith?” Allura asked, “What’s wrong?”

He sighed, “It…it doesn’t matter. He’s probably on a transport and long gone by--.”

He was interrupted from his thoughts when the room shook. The guests looked around, confused, and disturbed. The music stopped, and Allura walked over to the window, Keith on her heels. “Oh no,” She said, looking up at the sky. Keith looked too, watching the shimmery sky crack and dissolve. “The shield,” Allura muttered. 

“Is that a Galra ship?” One of the guests screamed, pointing to a speck in the sky. Keith looked up. It was indeed a Galra ship. It was in fact, several Galra ships descending on the planet. 

“Call together the armies!” Allura said, breaking the silence of the room, “I want our ships in the air THIS INSTANT.” She ran down the hall in her full ballgown, Shiro coming up to her, “I’ll lead the defense from the ground.”

“You’ll need your best pilot in the air,” Shiro said, following her. Keith jogged to keep up. 

Allura gave him a meaningful look, “Come back,” She whispered to him, and he ran off, the fighter pilots in the room following him. “Coran, get these civilians out of here. Shay, send a message through the planet, all civilians are to go underground and stay safe until the threat is taken care of. Matt, set up the communications network, we need to get organized, now.”

“I’m a technician too, your highness,” Pidge piped up, 

“Then you go help. Hunk, Shay tells me you’re a mechanic?” Hunk nodded, “Go attach yourself to one of the ships, don’t let it fall out of the sky. Hunk nodded and they all ran off. “Keith, get yourself underground.”

“Allura, I’ve taught myself how to pilot, and I’m a decent mechanic, I can take one of the ships.” 

Allura gripped his shoulders. “I lost you once, I’m not letting it happen again.” He wanted to argue, but she was already walking away, barking orders. Coran took his arm and pulled him along. He shrugged Coran off, walking under his own power.

He walked down with the other nobility, Shay and Coran leading them into caves below the surface. Just before he went down, he looked up watching the Altean and Balmeran ships take flight, firing on the Galran ships. He wondered which ship was Shiro’s.

This was wrong, Keith thought, all his friends were out there risking their lives, and here he was, hiding. He’d been in hiding his whole life. There had to be something he could do.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glint or purple. 

He did a double-take. The rest of the nobles continued on, paying him no mind. He stared at the spot. It was glowing. Overcome with curiosity, he took the side path and walked toward it.

It was a circle, a purple floating glowing circle. Inside there was a hooded face, staring at him with yellow eyes. “Hello, your highness,” The woman’s face said to him in a raspy voice. He recognized it. He had heard it years ago… “It’s been a long time.”

He squinted at her, “You’re Haggar,” He said, “The—“

“Yes, yes,” She said, “I’ve been watching you for some time, and I think I have something you might be interested in.” The image of her face rippled and re-formed into something new.

“Lance!” Keith said, reaching his hand forward, but unable to touch the image. In the image Lance was unconscious and clearly the worse for wear. His hair and clothes had scorch marks. “What have you done to him?” He demanded.

“Surprisingly,” Haggar’s voice came back, her image reforming in the circle, “I’m sorry to say I found him like this. He’s not dead, but it will be if you don’t come get him.”

Keith swallowed. It was a trap, that much was obvious. But…he couldn’t leave Lance. “Lead the way.”

Haggar grinned. The circle shrunk into a purple glowing dot and flew away back the way he came. Hesitantly, he followed it. 

He was lead to a Galran ship, landed outside the battle. He watched the ships firing at one another in the sky. The landed ship looked different. It was smaller than the others, for one, and had a sleeker design. The ramp was left open. 

Slowly, he made his way up the ramp, on high alert. His eyes darted around the edges of the ship, but he was immediately distracted by the figure in front of him. “Lance,” He was propped up against a med pod. Keith ran forward lifting him in his arms. Lance stirred slightly, but his eyes remained closed, “Lance, wake up.”

He didn’t move. Keith had to get him out of here. He hooked Lance’s arm around his own neck and stood up to drag him away.

Except he didn’t get that far, because when he stood, he saw who lay in the medical pod. 

He supposed he must have seen this person once, but he had been too young to remember. Still, the purple scarred face of Zarkon was one that he had read about since childhood and it had haunted his dreams ever since. Zarkon lay in his armor with a sword across his chest. “No…” Keith whispered, mostly to himself, “That’s impossible.”

“Anytime someone like you sees something they don’t understand, they say it’s impossible.” A raspy voice from behind him said. Keith turned, Lance hanging off of him like a dead weight. Haggar stepped up the ramp, her cloak dragging behind her as the ramp ascended into the ship, trapping them all inside. “They try and dissuade people like me from pursuing the truth. And yet, we still find it.”

Keith dragged Lance to the other side of the med pod, using it as a barrier between him and the druid. He looked down at Zarkon’s face again, “He died,” Keith said, “My parents sacrificed themselves to kill him.”

“No, no, child.” Haggar said, still walking towards him, slowly. “They gave him death so that you could have life. And now, you will do the same for him.” Keith backed away from her, holding onto Lance.

“What?” Keith asked, confused and horrified.

“There is a spell…” She said, coming up to the med pod and looking down into Zarkon’s face lovingly, “A spell I tried once. I needed blood, and quintessence. A lot of quintessence. I thought taking Zarkon’s most hated enemy and the quintessence of his enemy’s planet would be enough, but I was wrong.”

Keith kept backing away, inching around the walls of the ship. If he could just get to the ramp… “You…you destroyed Altea…killed my grandfather…to bring Zarkon back to life?”

“It didn’t work, sadly. But I realized my error. I didn’t need the blood of his killer…I needed his own blood…and more quintessence.” She laid her hands on the med pod, “The Balmera will do. It is filled with so much life…”

Keith frowned at her, still trying to inch away. “And…his own blood?”

Haggar turned to him and he froze on the spot, “I suppose you have been amnesiac for 10 years, so I can excuse you for not questioning the obvious.” She started stepping towards him again, and he backed up all the way to the wall, “Why do you think Zarkon kidnapped you all those years ago?”

Keith shrugged, not giving his full attention to the question, but rather the sword in Zarkon’s hands. If she insisted on blocking the door, he’d have to fight his way through. 

Haggar smiled. “Why, to make you his heir, of course. Just because your mother betrayed her family did not mean you had to suffer. Zarkon has his…forgiving side.”

“My mother gave her life for the safety of the universe.” Keith sputtered back at her. 

“Your mother disobeyed her own father for an Altean dog!” Haggar spat back. Keith flinched. Could…could the man in the pod…could Zarkon really be his grandfather? “But thanks to her, she has passed Zarkon’s blood on to you, and I will use it to restore the Galran empire to it’s former glory.”

She raised a hand, pointing at him, her eyes glowing. Keith dodged out of the way, dropping Lance onto the ground. He ran forward and made it to the med pod grabbing the sword out from within and pointing it at her. Haggar laughed. “Do you mean to fight me child? Very well.”

In front of his very eyes, Haggar disappeared, and reappeared behind him. He swung his sword at her, but she disappeared again.

Keith swung the sword wildly every time he saw movement, but he was never fast enough. “You know that sword might have been yours,” the raspy voice said. She was toying with him. He snarled, trying to hold still long enough that he could hit her. “As Zarkon’s kin you would have been accepted. You would have had a home, and a family.”

“I DO have a home and family,” He shouted, accidentally slashing a glass wall. Behind it, glowing yellow liquid seeped out, spilling onto the floor. His feet were soaked instantly, leaving him feeling…weirdly tingly.

“But you’ve always been an outsider,” Haggar grinned back at him, “Even when you looked like them, you were an outsider. You could have lead all the Galran, if it weren’t for your parent’s interference.”

Keith lunged at her again. This time, while she stayed in place, she was intangible. She laughed as other images of her flew around surrounding and laughing at him. He held his sword at the ready, turning hopelessly in circles, trying to pick a target.

A screen popped up behind him. “Witch,” A Galran with a false eye spoke through the vision. “Is it done?”

Haggar reformed into one solid image. “We’re just coming to it,” She said into the screen, as thought she hadn’t just been battling. Keith took advantage and lunged forward with his sword, but she simply blocked him with a n energy shield, his sword glancing off and sending him back.

“Well get it done. You promised to drain the planet’s quintessence. We need that help.”

Haggar sighed. “Must I do everything myself?” she muttered. The screen disappeared, and Haggar turned, giving her full attention. “Alright, whelp, time to give your life for your grandfather.”

She lifted her hand and Keith felt a pressure on his throat. Slowly, he was lifted into the air struggling to breath. He remembered all that time ago, how his grandfather, his Altean grandfather, had been lifted just like this. He gasped, desperate to fill his lungs with air as he stared helplessly at Haggar. The sword fell out of his hand as he held his throat, grasping to pull away hands that weren’t there. Shiro had covered his eyes, but he still remembered the sound King Alfor made when he fell.

Keith barely processed what he saw. All he knew is there was a flash of blue light, Haggar shrieked and was thrown to the side, and Keith fell to the ground gasping for air. He immediately looked up to see what had happened. 

Lance, cocky grin and all, was sitting up from where Keith had left him, his blaster still pointed at the fallen form of Haggar. When he made eye contact with Keith, he winked, before closing his eyes and falling back into unconsciousness. 

Keith sat up. He was covered in the yellow liquid on the ground. He was thrust back to his prince lessons as a child as he realized what this must be: this was quintessence, that which Haggar had reaped from Altea and who knows how many other worlds. The touch of it to his skin made him feel re-vitalized, and with that, he had an idea. He grabbed Zarkon’s sword once again and stood up. 

Haggar stumbled to her feet as well, all sign of humor gone, and had only hate in her yellow eyes. “You vile little boy,” She hissed at him. She rose her arm again, but clutched it in pain, unable to lift him in the air. “You think you can defeat me?”

“No,” Keith said, “But I can destroy your ship,” He swung the sword down, through the ship’s armor (Holy QUIZNAK Zarkon’s sword was damn SHARP). He sliced a hole through, and the golden liquid went spilling onto the Balmera below. 

“What are you doing?” Haggar asked, bewildered. She teleported to him and shoved him backwards, sending an electric shock through his body. 

He tasted blood in his mouth, but still grinned as he stared her down. He lifted the sword once again and swung it backward, hitting another case of quintessence. The glass shattered and more golden liquid flowed down to the planet. “That was for Lance,” he said, snarling at Haggar.

Realizing what he was doing, she teleported to his side, trying to grab hold of him, but he rolled away, “This is for my family,” He broke another glass. His back was covered in the liquid by now, but it only made him stronger. Haggar was furious. The planet beneath them glowed and groaned with new life.

Haggar, abandoning her teleportation charged him, but once again, he dodged her, nearly as easily as she had dodged him before. “And this?” He said, lifting his sword above his head, “This is just for you, witch.” He stabbed the sword into the largest of the glass containers. 

Haggar tried to rush through the free-falling quintessence to reach him and strangle him most likely. Keith watched her arm healing from the powers of the pure energy Keith had released, and she raised her hand, prepared to use her magic to strike him down where he stood. 

But she never got the chance. Between them, a giant crystal grew straight from the ground, tearing the ship apart, and separating Keith and his would-be attacker. More than that, the crystal seemed to encase her feet. 

She pulled, trying to free herself. She blasted at the crystal with magic, but could only slow it down as it grew up her body, trapping more and more of her. She shrieked in terror, fighting with everything she had, but it was not enough. 

Keith didn’t wait around to see her defeat. The crystals were growing all around him, destroying the ship, and Keith only had one thing on his mind.

He ran, grabbing Lance and once again pulled his arm over his shoulders so he could drag him through one of the holes in the ship. 

Keith landed hard on the surface, and dragged Lance as far from the ship as he could. He only risked looking over his shoulder, and was momentarily mesmerized as the planet ate up the ship, and the evil druid and the corpse of her master with it.

Finally, Keith felt they were a safe enough distance that he leaned Lance against an outcropping of rock and (non-moving) crystal. He looked up and around at the battle playing out. As the quintessence stolen from Altea seeped into the Balmera, the planet itself fought back against the Galran invaders. Keith watched, just for a moment, as crystals shot up out of the ground, smashing and trapping any Galran ship that got low enough. Several were already starting to retreat back into outer space, or so Keith assumed. He couldn’t focus on that as Lance started coughing.

“Lance?” Keith asked, cradling his head in his hands and holding him, “Lance, can you hear me?”

Slowly, Keith saw a sliver of blue eyes, and a smile spread across a scorched face. “Hey,” Lance said, “We did it. We are a good team.”

Keith smiled at him, eyes welling up with tears. “You were supposed to be gone,” Keith said, his voice going quiet as he lost the surge of energy from the quintessence, “You should have been long gone by now, but you were here…and you got hurt…”

Lance reached a shaky hand up, and Keith held it, keeping him steady. “I had to come back…I had to talk to you, I—I haven’t been completely honest with you.” Lance swallowed, “I’m so, so sorry for ever lying to you.”

“It’s alright,” Keith said, squeezing Lance’s hand tight, trying to keep him awake and alive by force of will, “I forgive you. You got me home anyway, right? I understand. I forgive you.”

Lance smirked, but the gesture seemed painful so he stopped. “There’s more…there’s more I haven’t told you.”

“I know about the boy in the kitchen,” Keith said, “I know it was you. I owe you my life.”

Lance twitched. “I’m pretty sure with the back and forth we’ve been doing, we’re even on the whole ‘saving one another’ thing.” Lance swallowed, “But that isn’t what I wanted to tell you.”

Keith looked into his eyes, dimmer now than he was used to. “What?” He asked, “What is it?”

“I’m in love with you.” 

Keith’s eyes widened in shock, his mouth set as he processed that Lance had really said what he thought he’d said.

Lance gave the tiniest shrug Keith had ever seen. “I know, you’re a prince and all that, and I’m a con-man, but—“

“Oh shut up,” Keith said, holding him, if it was possible, tighter, “I love you too.”

Lance’s eyes opened just a little further, his eyebrows raising to his hairline. “Really?” He asked. Keith nodded, tears starting to leak down his cheeks now. “Well, that’s convenient.”

Keith couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t funny, but it was Lance, and here he was, holding him in his arms, confessing his love. He leaned down, his nose brushing against Lance’s. He could feel Lance’s shallow breath against his lips and then—

Lance’s head lolled back, his eyes shut and his body limp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Lance died the end RIP. Just Kidding!
> 
> Not sure if there's gonna be one or two chapters, depends on what happens when I'm writing tomorrow. But it's 2 am and thats when I got my groove so I'm not questioning it.


	14. The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter y'all

Keith tapped the medical pod impatiently.

“Relax, would you?” Pidge said, although she was also staring anxiously at the pod.

Keith stared at Lance’s frozen, rested face, silently pleading with him to wake up. Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Shiro, Coran, Shay and Matt all waited with him.

Allura put a calming hand on his shoulder,. “Only a few more ticks now.” He nodded, biting one of his fangs into his lip. He sighed, trying to keep his face under control. Allura seemed to sense something was wrong, and so pulled him off to the side, leaving the rest of them to crowd around the pod. “Is everything alright? I mean, besides the obvious.”

Keith sighed. “Something…something Haggar said when I was fighting her, is all.” He muttered. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Am I…” he trailed for a moment, “Was my mother really Zarkon’s daughter?”

Allura’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. She turned back to the group, making sure they weren’t listening. “Your parents…didn’t want you to know until you were older.”

“Well,” Keith said, “I am older now.”

Allura nodded, “I suppose so. You know it doesn’t change anything, right? I still love you the same, as will all of them,” she gestured over to the group, who were discussing something in great detail. 

Keith smiled, “I know, Allura. Still…maybe we shouldn’t broadcast that. Not yet, anyway.” 

Allura nodded, “Hey, Keith!” Pidge called from the group, “Come here, I wanna show Matt my greatest accomplishment.” 

Keith and Allura returned to the group. “What is it?”

“I was just bragging about the nanites I used to make you seem like a Galran/Altean hybrid.” Pidge said, “Or, thought I made you seem that way. I actually used it to make you seem human, once, when you were going through the security line.”

“Ahh,” Keith said, nodding, “You mean the nanites you injected me with without my knowledge or permission?”

Pidge laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, “Uhh, yeah, those…those are the nanites.”

Matt shakes his head, “I can’t believe my innocent little sibling turned into a hardened criminal.”

“Yeah, yeah, look at this,” Pidge took out the controller and pressed a few buttons. “Ha! You are now human.” They told Keith. 

Keith looked at his purple hands. “I don’t feel human.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Matt, scan him.”

Matt, sighing, pulled out a scanner and ran it over Keith. “Wow…100% human DNA.”

Coran and Hunk looked over his shoulder at the scanner. “Fascinating,” Coran said, “I wonder if that could be useful, for instance, if you needed to infiltrate somewhere, it could work with your natural shapeshifting ability.

“When would I ever need to infiltrate somewhere?” Keith said, before turning to Pidge, “These things aren’t going to like, rust inside of my bloodstream or whatever, are they?”

“Nah,” Pidge said, “though, extracting them could be…uh…tricky.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Great.”

“Can it do other things?” Hunk asked, “Like, how many species is it programmed to replicate?” 

Pidge shrugged. “I mean, as long as I have the DNA registered on my remote here, I should be able to program them with whatever I want. Why? Any requests?” 

Hunk grinned, “How ‘bout a Balmeran?” He said, looking up at Shay.

“Easy.” Pidge pressed a few buttons, and Matt scanned Keith. Matt, Hunk, and Coran all ‘oooooh’d as they read the results. 

“Try a Tarkalian razor beast!” Coran said.

Pidge bit their lip, “Don’t think I have that one filed in here, sorry Coran.” Coran’s shoulders slumped, “But I do have an Earth Elephant!”

“You guys having a scanning party?” Lance said, behind Hunk.

Hunk sighed, “Lance, shh, I’m trying to focus here.” 

Everyone froze. 

“LANCE!” Hunk exclaimed, realizing what he’d said, and turning around to squeeze his friend.

“Whoa! Careful, buddy.” Lance said, laughing, “What happened?”

Allura, full of kind smiles, patted Lance’s free shoulder, “We can tell you everything, while you get something to eat.” 

Lance looked over and finally met Keith’s eyes. Keith smiled at him, restraining himself from rushing over to hug him as Hunk had. “That sounds great,” He said. 

 

Lance ate as Shiro told him the details of the battle, slowly warming up. Hunk sat on one side, Pidge on the other, while Keith sat on the table practically in front of him, leg hanging down and touching Lance’s. Every once in a while, Lance would look up, smiling and meeting his eyes. Keith would then blush and look away. 

Shiro’s story sounded oddly like a military report, which Lance supposed was natural. Every once in a while, Hunk and Pidge would interject their own little stories of what they had been doing. “Anyway,” Shiro said, giving Hunk an odd look after he had admitted to vomiting on one of the ship’s engines, “We ended up capturing Sendak, the leader of the Galran forces. It seems the Galra went all-in on this attack. Their armies are scattered, which could be crucial to gaining back control of the systems they’ve conquered.”

Lance nodded, finishing off his plate. “That’s great,” he said, “It’d be nice to have a free Earth again.”

Keith pressed his leg slightly harder onto Lance’s which Lance interpreted to be a comforting gesture. “You were with Keith most of the battle,” Allura said, “I’m sure he can tell you what happened there.” 

The attention in the room turned to Keith, who was clearly uncomfortable with it. He bit his lip. “How much do you remember?”

It was almost too easy. Lance sighed, “Not much, if I’m going to be honest. I remember waking up, shooting at the weird-looking lady, and uh, yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

Keith’s face fell. Lance bit back his laughter. “You…you don’t remember anything?” He asked. Lance shook his head, focusing all his energy to keep from smiling, “The…we talked…and you said…and I said…nothing?” 

Lance shrugged, “Nope, sorry. What did you say?”

Keith flushed, his purple cheeks turning as red as the marks under his eyes. “I—“ He started. He cleared his throat, “I—uh,” Lance couldn’t hold it anymore and let out a small chuckle. Keith frowned at him like he had grown a second head. “You…you were joking?”

Lance was gone. He started laughing harder, smiling warmly at Keith. 

Keith frowned, shoving his shoulder. “You ARE joking.”

Lance gripped his own shoulder in pain, still laughing. He stood up, towering over Keith on the table. “Careful!” Lance chastised, jokingly, “I just got OUT of a healing pod, not crazy about going back in.”

Keith snarled at him, jumping off the table but not matching his height. “You said you weren’t going to lie to me anymore!”

“I never said that!” Lance protested, “I said I was sorry to lying in the first place.” Keith squinted at him, upset, “Oh, don’t be mad. I did save your life in there after all.”

Neither of them noticed the rest of the people in the room slowly filtering out as the two of them argued.

“I thought,” Keith said, “you said we had saved each other’s lives so many times, we were even!”

Lance shrugged, “Doesn’t mean an ‘thank you’ wouldn’t be nice.” 

Keith rolled his eyes, “Fine, THANK you, even though it was your fault I was in that situation in the first place.”

“What?” Lance said, “How?”

“Haggar lured me there with your unconscious ass,” Keith said, “If it weren’t for you, I would have just been underground the whole time.”

Lance smiled at him, admiring the fierce passion in his eyes. “If I remember right, you said something about liking my unconscious ass.”

Keith clucked his tongue, looking between his eyes. “I didn’t say anything about your ass.”

Lance put a mock offending hand to his chest, “Are you saying you DON’T like my ass?”

Keith opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again, coming short on things to say. Lance smirked wider, “Well, well, finally I stump you,”

“Oh shut up,” Keith says, grabbing him by the front of his healing jumpsuit and pulling him in for a kiss.

Lance breathed him in, reaching up to pull Keith’s face up against his own. When Keith finally released him, Lance only pulled him in for another kiss, weaving his hand through Keith’s purple hair as Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist. 

“You know,” Lance said, pulling away just enough to speak, “considering how the Galra are all but defeated, they might not, you know, need me to help free Earth.”

Keith blinked up at him, “Lance…” he whispered, and the sound was heavenly to Lance’s ears, “I can’t—I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You don’t have to,” Lance said, pressing another kiss on him, “I want to stay…with you.”

Keith swallowed, letting Lance kiss him again. “What if…” he said, thinking, “What if I went with you?”

Lance leaned back, frowning at him to try and read his face. “You’re serious?”

Keith nodded. “I’m not much of a Prince, but I’m a pretty good pilot. And, you’re not too bad yourself. You said yourself we make a great team.”

Lance blinked, the first noise out of his throat disbelieving, “But the princess…your family.”

“Allura has Shiro now,” Keith said, “and it’s not like I’d be saying goodbye for good. I can always see them again. And—and call them and send messages and—“ he cut off with a squeak as Lance leaned in to kiss him again, wrapping his arms around him and spinning him in a circle. “Besides,” Keith said, “I was told once that Earth was a really nice place.”

Lance smiled, leaning in to rest his forehead against Keith’s. “I love you.”

Keith smiled back, “I love you too.”

At the doorway, neither of them noticed their friends subtly watching them, grinning shamelessly as the couple reveled in their happiness. “Well,” Shiro said, grabbing hold of his wife’s waist, “what a wonderful happy ending,”

“No,” Allura corrected, eyes tearing up and smiling at her husband, “It’s just the beginning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaannnnd that's it! This has been really fun and I'm so grateful to all of you who've left comments, kudos, the whole shebang. I'll probably take a couple of days to decide what my next voltron project will be, they always include klance, I just have to figure out to what degree. Thank you, I hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! My tumblr is http://dork-empress.tumblr.com/
> 
> emuyh-art did artwork for Chapter 7! Check it out it's beautiful!: http://emuyh-art.tumblr.com/post/152514267997/the-dance-scene-from-dork-empress


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